


After Alola

by ShesLikeTexas



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-02-06 10:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 56,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShesLikeTexas/pseuds/ShesLikeTexas
Summary: (Assuming the events of Pokemon Sun & Moon occurred when “Moon” was 15 rather than 11); Moon has finally defeated Kukui to earn her title as Champion of the Alola region. Now she must deal with the aftermath of the Aether foundation, the arrival of 2 old friends, and feelings that have been stirring for her best friend’s brother.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This is my first story to write, so please be patient with me. As the story goes on, the chapters should get longer and the writing should get better. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading :)

After Alola

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The time had come. Moon swelled with pride as she examined the slick navy-blue belt that contained the six Pokemon that brought her to this point. The final battle of the Alola Pokemon League, a testament to her strength. 

Taking a deep breath, she clipped the belt back over her hips and stepped onto the rainbow-colored platform. Light enveloped her, and when Moon opened her eyes, the sight she took in made her knees weak. When Hau told her Mount Lanakila was the highest peak in all Alola, he sure wasn’t kidding! A giant circular battlefield had been ingrained into the top of the mountain, with menacing sheets of ice with a faint blueish glow to them acting as the field’s border. Just over the ledge of the field were mounds of dark clouds blocking any view of the normally sunny region below. Professor Kukui sat in a stone-grey throne lined with the same blueish glow as the ice surrounding it. Noticing her, he rose. 

Moon turned her bright cerulean eyes towards the man who stood in her way and studied him. The pearl lab coat was opened to reveal his sun-kissed skin, and his light grey sweats fell just above his calves. The man tilted his white hat with the slight rainbow pictured on it towards her with a determined glint in his eye and a confident smile. 

“Congratulations! You have made it this far Miss Moon, but I am sorry to tell you that this is as far as you go. This Pokemon League is my baby, and I intend to defeat any trainers who strive for the title of ‘Champion’” he declared with a gruff voice. 

“Professor Kukui.” Moon began with a smile. “I sincerely thank you for helping me begin my journey last March. And the work that you have put in to make Alola’s first Pokemon League a reality is second to none-I commend you for that. But my Pokemon and I have been through thick and thin together to make our dream a reality…and you are standing in the way of that dream. I respect you, and I appreciate you, but..I hope you are ready for the fight of your life!” The girl drew a small red and white sphere from her belt and gently pressed the button in the middle to enlarge it so the sphere now fit snug in her delicate hand, and raised it towards the Professor. 

“I, Moon Skyrah of Pallet Town, challenge you for the title of Champion of the Alola Region!” her voice rang unwavering. She was steadfast in her stance, ready for Kukui to begin the challenge. A strong breeze slid the girl’s long pale-blonde hair off of her shoulders, and she tilted her chin up slightly to let the soft curls fall down her back. Her ruffled white blouse tossed in the wind, and she felt the goosebumps crawl up her toned arms and legs as she silently scolded herself for forgetting a jacket and only wearing her too-short charcoal shorts to the top of Mount Lanakila.  
The Pokemon Professor grinned widely at the challenge. “It’s been a long 16 months Miss Moon, let’s see how far you have come!” With that, he enlarged a sphere decorated with yellow and black and tossed it into the air. 

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

“Lycanroc, let’s go!” A giant wolf-like pokémon with tough fur the color of hazelnut and icy blue eyes appeared before her and bared its sharp teeth towards Moon. 

“I see your Rockruff has evolved. Let’s see how your puppy stands against Primarina!” Moon declared as she tossed her pokeball in the air to reveal her mermaid-like seal Pokemon. 

“Rrrinaaa!” cried as she looked on her opponent with determination. 

“Lycanroc, use Stone Edge!” Kukui ordered. 

“Primarina, send those rocks straight back with Psychic! Then follow up with Aqua Jet!” Moon countered. 

Lycanroc jumped up slightly and came down with such force-pummeling a collection of sharp-tipped rocks towards Primarina, but the Soloist Pokemon lifted her giant flippers and cried out as her eyes began to glow. With a flick of her flippers, the sharp-tipped rocks flew backwards towards Lycanroc, who took the hit dead-on with wide eyes. Not giving it a chance to retaliate, Primarina shot an incredibly powerful jet of water straight towards the Wolf Pokemon, sending it flying towards the edge of the mountain. 

“Lycanroc!” Kukui cried as he watched his pokemon struggle to stand. “Shake it off and get her with Crunch!” Lycanroc shook its fur roughly and took off in a fit of rage towards Primarina, its sharp teeth glowing-rearing up for the attack. 

“Oh no you don’t! Primarina, Moonblast!” Moon commanded. 

Primarina lifted her flippers up as she quickly took in the power of the moon, and blasted Lycanroc full force right as he was upon her. A shield of mist followed, and both trainers waited anxiously to see what had become of their Pokemon. The mist cleared, and Lycanroc was lying unconscious on the field while Primarina’s glow from the moon’s power diminished. 

“Lycanroc, you fought a good match. It will be difficult to best her starter Pokemon.” Kukui lifted his ultra-ball towards the Wolf Pokemon and a red beam of light enveloped Lycanroc until it was safely resting back in it’s poke-ball. “Great first round Miss Moon! I’m impressed! But let’s see how you fare against Magnezone!” he exclaimed as he tossed a poke-ball in the air to reveal a large steel contraption with smaller magnets sticking out like hands. 

“Magnezone, Thunderbolt” Kukui quickly ordered. 

Moon gasped. “Primarina, try to counter with Moonblast!” Unfortunately, the Soloist Pokemon wasn’t fast enough powering up her attack. The super-effective lightning strike sank through the purple mist created by her Moonblast and struck her dead on. Primarina flew towards her trainer, weak and disoriented, but still able to battle. 

“Primarina, I’m going to let you rest for now girl, I don’t want you to take another one of those Thunderbolts!” Moon told her starter, her face etched with worry. Primarina nodded towards her trainer as Moon recalled her to her pokeball. 

“That is one powerful Thunderbolt Professor! But it will take a lot more than that to shake our confidence! Come on out Marowak!” Moon declared as she tossed out her next pokemon. 

A mid-size bi-pedal Pokemon with dark fur appeared in front of Moon. It had interesting white markings on its back and a crystal white skull on its head and stood ready for battle. 

“Marowak, use Shadow Ball!” she yelled.

“Magnezone, dodge and use Flash Cannon!” Kukui responded. 

Marowak took the bone in its hand and ignited the ghostly blue fames on the end, twirling it around swiftly until a pitch-black ball of energy formed and shot towards Magnezone. The Magnet Area Pokemon rushed out of way, but was not able to fully escape the ball of energy as the attack struck its side, spinning the Pokemon towards the ground. Magnezone levitated back up, and used its magnetic hands to create an equally powerful white ball of energy and shoot it towards Marowak. 

“Marowak, dodge and use Return!” Moon commanded.

The bone-keeper Pokemon quickly rolled out of the way of the oncoming attack, and rushed forward with an enormous amount of energy swirling around its body, ramming straight into the steel contraption. Magnezone cried out in pain as it fell to the ground towards Kukui. 

“Magnezone, let’s get back in there and use Thunderbolt!” The Magnet Area Pokemon hoisted itself back up and charged up the energy to summon a powerful lighting strike.

“Finish it with Fire Blast!” Moon countered. Marowak twisted its ignited bone quickly and summoned an intense blast of all-consuming fire and shot it towards Magnezone before it could complete its last-ditch attack. Magnezone fell towards the ground, completely unconscious. 

“Great fight Magnezone, return,” Kukui praised his Pokemon as he returned it to its pokeball. “Braviary, come on out!” He released a giant bird Pokemon with dark feathers lined with red. The pokemon’s face was painted with the colors red, white, and blue and turned on its opponent with a stoic cry. 

“Brraaaaaav!” it shrieked. 

“Are you still okay to battle Marowak?” The bone keeper Pokemon nodded towards its trainer and stood ready. “Alright then, let’s start with Shadow Ball!” Moon chimed. Marowak responded by twisting its ignited bone again to create the pitch-black ball of energy and fling it towards its opponent. 

“Braviary, dodge and use Tailwind!” Kukui ordered. The Valiant Pokemon quickly avoided the attack and used its giant wings to whip up a powerful wind to increase its speed for the next 4 turns. “Great job! Now use Brave Bird!” The Professor pumped a knowing fist in the air. 

Braviary flew up high in a blink of an eye. “Marowak! Try to surround yourself with flames from Fire Blast!” Moon gulped, trying to make the best of a bad situation. Marowak was able to envelope itself in white-hot flames before Braviary came out of nowhere with incredible speed to land a critical-hit right in Marowak’s core. The Bone Keeper Pokemon hit the ground at a high velocity and stayed down. Braviary cried out in victory...and then pain. Kukui’s smile faltered when he realized that his bird Pokemon was burned from Marowak’s closing effort to defend itself. 

“You did a fantastic job Marowak, thank you for lending me your strength.” Moon praised as she recalled her fallen Pokemon. “Vikavolt, I choose you!” The giant blue stag beetle appeared from its pokeball and snapped its pincers in Braviary’s direction. 

“Braviary, we are on a time crunch here, use Crush Claw!” Kukui ordered with a grimace. 

“Vikavolt, counter with Crunch!” The Stag Beetle Pokemon dove straight into Braviary’s oncoming attack, and matched the Valiant Pokemon’s glowing claws with its own powerful glowing jaw and bit down hard. Braviary cried out in pain as Vikavolt released it from its clutches. 

“Great job Vikavolt! Now use Thunderbolt!” 

“Braviary dodge it!” Kukui cried out to his wounded Pokemon, but Braviary had taken too much damage to make full use of its speed to avoid the incredible lightning strike headed its way. Professor Kukui recalled the Valiant Pokemon with a grimace as it dropped towards the ground, defeated. 

Moon celebrated with Vikavolt as Professor Kukui sent out his next Pokemon. 

“Snooooooooooor!” Moon’s eyes widened as a hulking shadow appeared over her and her teammate. The Snorlax that stood before them was the biggest she had ever seen of its species, it was obviously well trained, making her wary. 

Moon shook off her nerves, she had to stay focused in order to win this battle. “Come on Vikavolt, don’t let its size scare you! Use X-Scissor!” Vikavolt picked up speed as it charged the enormous Snorlax. To her surprise, Professor Kukui didn’t order Snorlax to dodge the powerful bug-type attack. With a smirk, he watched the Sleeping Pokemon take the attack head on. 

Snorlax hissed at the pain, but shook it off as it had done very little damage. “Now that you have successfully made my Pokemon angry, how about we take this up a notch? Snorlax, use Heavy Slam!” 

With blinding speed, Snorlax jumped into the air, and slammed itself down hard onto Vikavolt. Moon gasped at the scene that just unfolded before her, a 1,000lb Pokemon should not have been capable of that kind of speed. To the credit of her Stag Beetle Pokemon, Vikavolt was still standing-well hovering, no matter how shakily. 

“Vikavolt, I know that hurt buddy, but let’s hide with Dig!” Moon implored with a line of worry etched across her face. Vikavolt burrowed its way into the mountain top and disappeared. 

“Snorlax, be on the lookout! Use Crunch when it shows itself!” Kukui warned. 

The Sleeping Pokemon stood on alert, trying to determine where Vikavolt would pop out. However, the Stag Beetle Pokemon must have been out for revenge because it rushed up out of the ground right behind Snorlax with a force strong enough to send the 1,000 pound Pokemon flying. 

Professor Kukui flashed a confident smile when in mid-air, Snorlax completed a summersault and landed on its two feet and rushed back towards Vikavolt and opened its giant mouth wide opened for a Crunch attack. 

“Wow, Professor. That Snorlax is something else!” She recalled her unconscious Pokemon and muttered her praises towards the pokeball. Her eyes flashed back towards her opponent, “But, even he isn’t a match for Dugtrio!” She called with a smile, sending out a pokemon that looked like 3 chesnut-colored mounds of dirt with flowing golden hair. 

“An interesting choice Moon…” Kukui mused. “But I don’t think Dugtrio will be enough to take on Snorlax.” He shrugged and called out his next attack. 

“Use Body Slam!” 

Moon smirked. “Never underestimate my Pokemon Professor. Dugtrio dodge, and use Flamethrower!”

The Mole Pokemon simply disappeared underground, avoiding the oncoming attack easily. It popped back up right behind the Sleeping Pokemon and unleashed a flurry of white-hot flames right onto it’s back. Snorlax reared back, roaring in pain, and turned around in fury to face its opponent. 

“Snorlax, don’t let it get away with that! Use Horsepower!” 

“Sorry Professor, that’s not going to happen. Dugtrio, Fissure!” The Professor paled as she called out her attack. Snorlax was headed full speed towards Dugtrio when all of a sudden, the ground beneath it was just gone. Moon smiled as the one-hit KO attacked hit its mark. Kukui shook his head as he recalled his unconscious behemoth of a Pokemon. 

“Man, Snorlax didn’t stand a chance against Fissure. Well done Moon! That is one of the hardest moves to teach your Pokemon!” Professor Kukui praised her. “Let’s go Ninetales!” A beautiful fox-like Pokemon appeared gracefully from its pokeball. It’s light blue fur coat and giant fluffy tails were splendidly shiny, and its demeaner commanded the attention from those around it. 

Moon’s Dugtrio, on the other hand, was breathing hard and struggling to stay upright. “Hey buddy, that Fissure took a lot of energy out of you, how about I let you rest of a while?” Moon smiled down as she recalled her hard-working Pokemon. 

“Your Ninetales is magnificent, but I am sorry to say that she will still come second to my next Pokemon!” she giggled as she enlarged another ultra-ball. Ninetales growled and turned her long nose up to Moon’s comment. 

Now it was Professor Kukui’s turn to widen his eyes in surprise as the Moone Pokemon appeared before them. It had a bat-like skeleton form, with brilliant deep violet wings outlined with golden crescents. Lunala’s bright fuchsia eyes settled on the Fox Pokemon from its moon-shaped head. 

“So this is what Cosmog evolved into…. how lucky am I that I get to see Lunala right here in person!” the Professor gushed with loving eyes. 

“She is quite the beauty” Moon agreed as she looked up at the Moone Pokemon proudly. “How about I show you what she can do? Lunala, use Moongeist Beam!” 

“Ninetales, dodge and use Blizzard!” 

An intense beam of energy formed from Lunala’s moon shaped head and blasted towards its opponent. The Fox Pokemon leaped out of the way and summoned an icy storm and directed it towards Lunala. 

“We can handle a little ice, can’t we Lunala? Take out the blizzard with Moonblast, then follow up with Night Daze!” 

The wall of ice that had hit Lunala was shattered instantly with the power of the moon. Its fuchsia eyes began to glow as dark energy wrapped itself around the bat-like Pokemon. With a powerful *swish* of its wings, Lunala sent the dark energy charging towards the Fox Pokemon with a cry. 

“Ninetales, safeguard!” the Professor croaked. A wispy silver shield appeared in front of Ninetales, but the force of the Night Daze was just too powerful, and the safeguard shattered. The Fox Pokemon was blasted back ten feet by the dark energy and landed with a thud. “Ninetales, come on girl, let’s get back up and use Dazzling Gleam!” 

Ninetales shakily stood up, shook off the powerful attack, and cried out as stunning gemstones appeared from the ground and were sent flying towards Lunala, hitting it dead on before Moon could call out a counter-attack. 

“Let’s go Lunala! Phantom Force!” The monstrous Moone Pokemon shuddered out of sight, effectively confusing Professor Kukui and his Ninetales. 

“Be on the lookout Ninetales…it could come out of nowhere!” he warned.

In the blink of an eye, Lunala appeared directly behind Ninetales and assaulted it with a full force blast of dark energy. The Fox Pokemon cried out as she was thrown back towards Kukui with incredible force. 

Professor Kukui gaped at his unconscious Pokemon. He recalled it with sad eyes, but muttered his praises towards its pokeball. “You have me down to my last Pokemon Miss Moon, and I am very impressed. Let’s make this a battle to remember!” He declared as he tossed out his last pokeball. 

A tall owl-like pokemon appeared before them. The upper portion of its face was dark green with a thin, orange mask-like marking encircling its eyes. A leafy hood covered its head and flowed down onto its back like a cape. 

“Lunala, you did great out there! Come back and rest!” Moon called as she returned it to its pokeball. “Let’s turn up the heat on this battle, let’s go Smaug!” she chimed with a huge grim plastered on her face as she tossed out her last Pokemon. 

A tremendous blue dragon with burly red wings roared as it materialized before them. Professor Kukui cocked his head to the side. “Smaug huh?” 

Moon chuckled at her beloved dragon’s name. “Believe it or not, Salamance was the only Pokemon from my team that actually wanted a nickname! As a Bagon, he wanted something he could grow into.”

“Very interesting. Pokemon are quite unique, aren’t they?” he retorted with a grin. “How about we get this last round started off with a bang? Decidueye, use Spirit Shackle!”

“Blast through it with Flamethrower Smaug!” she countered. 

Decidueye’s sharp eyes began to glow as a shadowy dark presence appeared from the mountaintop and soared towards Salamance. However, before it could hit its target, Moon’s Salamance released a powerful flamethrower that completely blew through the attack. 

Professor watched the scene before him with gritted teeth. “Darn, come on Decidueye, use Brave Bird!” 

The Arrow Quill Pokemon flew up high to gather energy for his next attack. Moon narrowed her eyes as she saw it come back down to attack. “Smaug, shoot it out of the sky with Draco Meter!” 

Moon’s Salamance shook the battlefield with its mighty roar as it summoned fiery comets from the sky. Decidueye was able to avoid two or three of them before one struck its left wing and the energy it had built up to perform Brave Bird dissipated. 

“Smaug, finish it with Devastating Drake!” Moon beamed as she gave her final command. A purple fire erupted around Salamance as Moon stood tall, crossing and uncrossing her arms flowing into her claw-like Z-powered move. 

“Decidueye, try to counter with Sprit Shackle!” Kukui choked. His last pokemon sent a hurried flurry of shadow energy towards the explosion of purple fire that was headed towards it. But there was no defense against the sheer power of Smaug’s dragon powered Z-move. In a blink of an eye, the purple flames quickly overcame the giant owl-like pokemon and there was no escape. Professor Kukui and Moon held up their arms to shield themselves from the debris of the blast. When the smoke and ash had cleared, Decidueye was unconscious and Moon’s Salamance was hovering just above the ground, roaring powerful flames into the sky acknowledging his victory. 

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Moon stood in shock as she watched Professor Kukui recall his beloved pokemon. She had done it…She defeated Kukui! Her eyes lit up with exhilaration and filled with tears as she sprinted towards her faithful dragon. Moon wrapped her arms around Salamance’s slick cobalt neck, and her pokemon grumbled happily and pulling her close with its monster-like head and nuzzled softly. 

“Smaug, I am so proud of you! Thank you for working along beside me to win!” Soft tears trickled down her tanned cheeks. 

“Well Miss Moon, let me just say that I am astounded. You have really grown up into an incredible trainer who loves and cares for her Pokemon. You were in complete synchronization with each one of your Pokemon during our battle, and it was an honor to witness! Let me be the first to congratulate you on becoming the first ever Alola Champion!” Professor Kukui praised the young trainer with a large grin and held out a hand for her. 

Moon let her hands fall from her dragon and rushed over to give Kukui and bone-crushing hug-much to his surprise. “Thank you thank you thank you!!! You helped me start off this incredible journey. Thank you for believing in me, and pushing me to become the best Pokemon trainer that I can be!” She let go of the professor and stepped back. She released all of her friends that helped her get to this point and turned towards them. 

“Did you hear that guys? We did it! Each and every one of you is so dear to me. I love you all, and thank you for trusting me to be your trainer.” The six Pokemon cried happily at Moon. 

“This is a milestone for us, and each of you will go down in history! That doesn’t mean that this is where our story ends, no no! It is only the beginning! I will work with you to travel so we can see things we have never seen before, to meet Pokemon we have never met before, and to train hard to become the best there ever was!” Moon gushed as she raised her first in the air and jumped up, her team following suit. 

“What a fantastic speech Moon!” Professor Kukui’s remark prompted Moon to turn around to face him. “Now how about we get you registered into the Hall of Fame,” and then head back to Iki Town for a celebration?”

“Sounds great Professor!” Moon responded happily. She recalled her Pokemon and followed the Professor down a set of stairs that seemed to randomly appear out of nowhere near the Champion’s throne. They spiraled down into a warm room that smelled like chocolate chip cookies. Moon inhaled deeply with a peaceful smile plastered on her face. 

“It smells like someone has been baking down here.”

“Well, that’s because someone has been. We decided to have this room available for challengers to warm up after freezing their bums off on top of Mount Lanakila, and Burnet must have been watching you win the match to be ready with some cookies.” Kukui answered. 

As if on cue, Professor Burnet walked around the corner with a silver tray full of the most delicious looking chocolate chip cookies. Her iron-colored tank top was as snug as ever, and her black and orange jacket was tied around her hips, covering her turquoise shorts. She smiled warmly at the duo who had just reached the bottom of the stairs. “Ah congratulations Moon! I am so proud of you, and It looks like you are just in time for some snacks while Kukui registers your Pokemon into the Hall of Fame!” She turned towards her husband. “Honey, I am sorry for your loss, but I think we can agree that the title of Champion will be in good hands from now on.”

Professor Kukui nodded and stuffed three cookies into his mouth. *munch* *munch* *munch* “Y-ou…go-t…it..hon-ey” *munch* *munch.* Moon giggled and handed him the navy belt that contained her prized possessions and took a cookie of her own. “Be careful with them!” She called after him as he took each of the pokeballs and placed them into an impressive looking machine in the middle of the room. It reminded her of the machines used for healing Pokemon back in the Pokemon center, but this one had glowing blue lights etched into it. As it processed each of the pokeballs with a bright spotlight, she saw images of her friends appear on the screen. 

“Primarina, the Soloist Pokemon” Moon jumped, almost knocking her second cookie out of her hands as a loud, but pleasant voice announced from the machine. The screen switched images to the next Pokemon in line. 

“Vikavolt, the Stag Beetle Pokemon” After the initial shock, she watched proudly as the rest of her Pokemon were announced and showed up on the medium-sized screen: Marowak, Dugtrio, Lunala, and Salamance. 

“Almost done! Now Moon, we just need a handprint from you, and then we can take a picture with you and your Pokemon!” Kukui waved her over excitedly. 

Moon placed her hand on the designated portion of the machine and relaxed when it was warm to the touch. A red laser peeked out and scanned her handprint up and down twice before letting out a *beep* indicating the process was over. She lifted her hand and clipped her belt back around her hips. The girl felt a strong hand clap her on the shoulder and turned towards the couple, grinning like a maniac. Moon’s Rotom Dex, flew out of her bag in a hurry, “Letzzzzz go take that picture guyzzz!”

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The trio made their way back up the spiral staircase to take the picture outside since Smaug and Lunala were too big to fit inside the cozy room below. Once they reached the battlefield, Moon let all her Pokemon out of their pokeballs and looked at them expectantly. “Now guys, Rotom is going to take our picture for the Hall of Champions, so I need you all to be on your best behavior,” with that, she gave them all a wink and her Pokemon cried happily at her hidden message. 

They all gathered around their beloved trainer, and each one struck its own unique pose. Marowak ignited his trusted bone with a ghost blue fire and spun it quickly around, Vikavolt hovered next to Moon and pretended to snap her hat in his pincers, Dugtrio plastered an elated grin on each of her three faces with all of her tongues sticking out towards Rotom. Primarina wrapped her large white flippers around Moon, snuggling her nose towards her trainer’s beaming face, Salamance puffed out his chest and shot Rotom a stoic look, all the while Lunala took up all of the space behind the team with her massive violet and gold wings and gave a mighty cry as Rotom’s flash went off. *snap* *snap* *snap*

Moon giggled as she watched Professor Kukui place her now framed picture onto the wall marked “Hall of Champions.” Each one of her team members had a unique personality, and she was so happy that Rotom was able to capture such a special moment. Professor Kukui walked over and threw one arm around his wife and turned towards Moon. 

“Well Moon, I think it is time to go celebrate with everyone in Iki Town! Meet you there!” With that, the couple smiled to each other and headed back outside. 

Moon, on the other hand, froze. Professor Kukui said “everyone.” Did “everyone” include a certain blonde hair boy who made her heart skip a beat every time she saw him? She had a sinking feeling that Kukui’s “everyone” really did mean “everyone…” 

She took a deep breath and placed one delicate hand on her white ruffled bag that was slung over her shoulder, while adjusting her hat with the other. “I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.” She reassured herself as she took one last cookie and stuffed it in her mouth before heading up the staircase. 

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................


	2. The Celebration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Hi there! This is my first story to write, and I hope anyone who reads it enjoys it. As the story goes on, the chapters should become longer, and the writing will (hopefully) get better. Please feel free to leave a review if you want to, I would enjoy hearing feedback. Thanks!
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. 

After Alola

 

  
Chapter 2: The Celebration

  
As Smaug lifted off from the mountaintop of Mt. Lanakila with Moon seated safely on his back, the immense dragon tossed his head back and drew out an impressive Flamethrower with a roar. Moon could only giggle at Smaug’s demonstration-they had just beaten the Pokémon League after all. The joyful girl lifted her hands off her dragon’s back and raised them to her sides outright. She felt a huge grin break out across her face as the warm Alolan sun hit her tanned face and gave a resounding shout, “Woooohoooo!”

  
The duo had maybe an hour and a half flight back to Iki Town for her celebration, but Moon wasn’t in any particular hurry to get there. She had never been one for big celebrations, but she knew her Pokémon needed a break, and they definitely deserved a party for all their hard work. She smiled softly to herself as she reminisced on all of the twists and turns that brought her to this point.

  
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

  
Moon had been utterly heartbroken when her parents announced on her twelfth birthday that they would be packing up their home in Kanto and moving to the distant region of Alola. The normally composed blonde preteen had cried her eyes out saying goodbye to her two best friends in Pallet town.

  
To make things worse, she was supposed to be starting her Pokémon journey through Kanto with the two boys in the upcoming months when she turned thirteen, but now she would have to wait another two years until she was fifteen to start her journey in Alola. Apparently, the region she was moving to had completely different laws than her home in Kanto, much to her horror.

  
Her father, a tall, burly man with a fierce love of Pokémon, had received a job offer at the Aether Foundation. Upon his excitement, he simply shrugged off any resistance Moon displayed to the move. Her mother, of course, supported her husband’s decision to move the family to the outskirts of Hau’oli City on Melemele Island.When they had finally arrived on the sizable island after a twelve-hour flight, Moon had been far too tired to protest anymore and crashed on her new bed without any hope of being woken up until the next day.

  
Much to her surprise, Moon found herself enjoying the salty sea air surrounding her, the luscious greenery that draped around the nearby landscape, and even the strange island natives who had the weirdest methods of saying “Hello.”Over the course of the Skyrah family’s first year on the island, Moon had met plenty of new friends and was adapting nicely. Two of which stuck with her throughout her journey, Hau and Lillie.

  
Hau was the grandson of Hala, the Kahuna of Melemele Island, and was right around her same age. A few weeks after her arrival, the over energetic boy with skin the color of creamy cocoa and an interesting choice in clothing had taken it upon himself to teach her everything she had missed on the island over the past twelve years. Moon had grown extremely fond of the boy’s unhealthy obsession with Malasadas and his desire to becoming a Pokémon trainer strong enough to beat his powerful grandfather in a full six-on-six battle.

  
Hau had been the one to inform her that Alola didn’t even have a Pokémon League at the time, much to her dismay. Moon had been shell-shocked, what kind of region didn’t even have a Pokémon League?? She had practically grown up watching League matches on television with her two best friends in Pallet Town! After seeing her dismayed expression, Hau had reluctantly informed her that the differences didn’t stop there. Instead of gym leaders and badges, Alola had trials and crystals.

  
As disappointed as she was, Moon still tried to make the best out of bad situation. Alola had completely new Pokémon for her to study, and when she was old enough, she could venture out and visit all four of the islands that made up the Alola region. While there was an endless list of things to do in Hau’oli City, which resided only about a forty-five minute walk west of her house, Moon and Hau had come to enjoy nice walks around the island instead. The hustle and bustle of a “big” city was exciting, but the duo liked to chat about the Pokémon they would one day meet on their future trials while wandering around the beautiful scenery, hoping to catch sight of one. It was on one of these walks where they had met Lillie.

  
While exploring the area around the ruins of Melemele Island, the duo had spotted a flustered girl around their age rushing towards them in fright. She spotted them and hurriedly spat out a warning, “R-rrr-uuu-nn!!” Moon and Hau gave the fleeing girl a confused look until they saw what she was running from. A flock of Spearow had apparently not taken lightly to Lillie’s intrusion and was chasing her with gusto, screeching after her with angry cries.

  
Lillie vigorously gestured for Moon and Hau to start running, which they were all too happy to oblige. The trio took off at a sprint towards the stairs that had led them up to the ruins and fled to Kahuna Hala’s home towards the entrance. Once they had flung themselves inside and locked the door, they were finally able catch their breaths and examine their new companion.

  
The girl’s face was reddened from exhaustion, and her once-pearl white dress was now riddled with dirt. The giant fluffy hat placed on her head had a few holes torn into it form the Spearow’s claws.

  
“Oh my goodness,” she coughed. “I am SO sorry for all of that…I have no idea what happened. I was just taking a few pictures to bring back home with me, and the Spearow just started attacking!”

  
Hau looked on the girl with sympathy. “It’s okay, I bet the Spearow just didn’t like the flash that comes from the camera. They probably thought it was some sort of attack.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Moon chimed in, “the important thing is that we are all safe. By the way, I’m Moon, and this is Hau.”

  
Lillie held out her hand for the duo, “Well it is nice to meet you guys, my name is Lillie.”

  
After that, Lillie became a fast friend. While she didn’t have any desire to compete in the Alola Trials, she was perfectly content discussing all things Pokémon with the duo. Over the course of the next year, all three friends had turned fourteen years old, and had become inseparable. Countless sleepovers, nights around the campfires, and adventures around the island had brought the three of them closer together.

Moon was lucky to have that kind of support system when the unthinkable happened.

  
The trio had been sunbathing on the beach near Hau’oli City when a giant Tauros leaning over them, essentially blocking out the sun, disrupted them. A lanky man with an impressive goatee hopped off the beast and let Moon know that she was needed at home right away. With confusion, she packed up her things and hopped up on the ride Pokémon, her friends promising to meet her back at the house.

  
When Moon walked through the doorframe of her cozy home, she was greeted by her inconsolable mother. Her normally kept wavy brunette hair was frizzy and falling out of a messy bun. She had pushed her reading glasses up on her head and wrapped her shaking arms around her daughter. Moon couldn’t understand what in the world was going on between her mother’s choked sobs.

  
“Mom, you have to tell me what happened. Why are you so upset?” Moon pleaded, placing her hands on her mother’s shoulders and attempted to look her in the eye.

  
Her mother seemed to expend quite a bit of energy taking a deep breath to steady herself. “Mmm-oo-n.” she whimpered. “There was an accident at the Aether foundation. Th-hey won’t give me any details; b-b-but…apparently a lot of workers were lost. Including your f-father.”

  
Moon’s heart stopped. “Wait, what?”

  
“Moon, your father…he’s gone.”

  
Her head spun as she tried to comprehend what her mother was telling her. Her father was lost. He wasn’t coming home…ever. The grip on her mother was lost as she dropped to her knees with a thud. Every fiber of her body was on fire, and she shook uncontrollably as she attempted to urge herself that the news she just received wasn’t real. The man who had sacrificed so much to provide for his family, the man who implored in her the love of Pokémon, the man who guided her in life was just…gone.

  
Thank Arceus that she had Lillie and Hau. Those two had held onto their friend for dear life as she cried every. last. tear out night after night. They had been there as she began to understand that sometimes things happen that we can never make sense of. They had been there when she stood facing the ocean and screamed into the darkness with tears burning in her eyes. They had been there as she fought to regain her former cheerful self, even when it took a long time.

  
In February, six months after the news of her father’s passing, Moon caught up to her friends and finally turned fifteen. Life had been hard, but Moon had found a way to keep herself busy and keep down the dull heartbreak that still lingered: She would begin her Pokémon journey in just one short month.

  
Both Hau and Moon would receive their very first Pokémon from Hala in March. Lillie had recently come into the possession of a small fluffy creature with the pattern of the cosmos on its body, although she never gave the duo any explanation. She simply marched up to them one day with a smile and announced, “Good morning, this is Nebby, and we are going to keep her safe, okay?” Hau and Moon just shrugged and nodded, greeting their new friend.

  
After that, life was a blur. Moon and Hau received their first Pokémon and officially started their Alola Trials. They had decided to travel separately, but frequently ran into each other to battle and catch up. Lillie was on her own journey, searching for a way to help Nebby, but they still saw plenty of their friend.

  
Team Skull hilariously tried stealing Pokémon from their trainers all over Alola, but Moon, Hau, and the Trial Captains curb stomped them time after time. It was quite the surprise when it was revealed that the Team Skull leader was working under the orders of the Aether foundation’s president, Lusamine.

  
Even more surprising, Lusamine turned out to be Lillie’s mother…talk about a bomb dropped. Lille had never talked about her family, so Moon connected the dots when she witnessed the imposing women verbally abusing Lillie. An all-consuming hatred had filled Moon at the moment when she challenged Lusamine. She had never been an angry person, but the realization that this woman was hurting her best friend AND somehow was involved in the death of her father was just too much to handle.

  
She didn’t even feel bad that the woman had been possessed by a dangerous Pokémon from another dimension. Lusamine got what she deserved in Moon’s opinion, even though she respected Lillie’s decision to travel to Cerulean City in the Kanto region to see if Bill, the Pokémon Researcher, could find a way to help her mother. They would be leaving soon after Moon challenged the Pokémon League.

  
Although her journey had been difficult, she didn’t want to change a single thing about it. Because of the chaos surrounding the Aether Foundation, Moon had been able to strike at the dark heart of the hidden ambitions of the President, and learned of the circumstances around her father’s suspicious death: an illegal experiment conducted on the basement floor went horribly wrong and killed fourteen innocent workers that happened to be in the vicinity. When Moon brought the criminals to justice, she felt as if she successfully avenged her father.

  
And on top of everything, Moon had met _him_. Originally a random rival who seemed to have ties to Team Skull, Gladion had proved to be a formidable ally against Lusamine. While he had his own reasons for taking down the Aether president, namely that she was his _mother_ , he had trusted Moon enough to let her take the lead in her planning her downfall.

  
His very presence screamed “edgelord.” The first time she had met him on Route 5, Team Skull had been pestering him regarding their affairs, and she could see the boredom reflected in his emerald eyes. He had his arms crossed over his stark-black hoodie, and she noticed his aggressive stance towards the grunts. They had apparently become fed up with his attitude, because they threw their hands up in frustration and waddled off, their pants hanging dangerously low on their hips. Moon caught her breath as he turned those emerald eyes upon her. He placed his palm over the side of his face, covering his low blonde bangs and smirked at her.

  
It seemed to be his signature move as she continued to run into him throughout her travels.

  
Her heart never failed to skip a beat when she laid her eyes upon him. She didn’t know if it was the “bad boy” routine, the “best friend’s brother” position, or his dangerously good looks, but she always found herself bumbling like an idiot around him.

  
Moon had felt her heart break a little when she heard him declare “we may not be friends…but we aren’t enemies anymore either” right after their final battle, before her trek up Mount Lanakila. She had been thinking about this boy for over a year now, and he had just confirmed that they weren’t even friends! After _all_ they had been through…

  
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Smaug’s dominant roar announcing they were descending upon Iki Town shook Moon from her consuming thoughts. She scolded herself for getting frustrated at Gladion’s comment. Today was one of the best days of her life, and she would have a blast at the celebration-with or without Gladion.

  
With new determination, Moon leaned forward, letting her faithful dragon know that she wanted to make an entrance. Smaug took the hint and pinched in his wings, picking up speed as they raced towards the town center. As they drew closer, she could see the microscopic blurs surrounding the wooden stage form into at least a hundred people of all shapes and sizes, all with their hands in the air cheering for Moon and her Salamance.

  
When they were a couple of feet above the ground, Smaug quickly broadened his powerful wings and slowed them down to a complete stopped with one swift movement, creating a whirlwind of dust around them. Moon gracefully hopped off her dragon as he touched down onto the platform and waited for the dust to settle.

  
Before she could take another step, two sets of strong arms enveloped her, knocking her off balance up against Smaug. She couldn’t help but smile as she looked up at the two faces that greeted her.

  
“Lillie….Hau…can’t…breathe…” she managed to choke out.

  
The two just shot her a wide grin and stepped away, each keeping a hand on their friend’s shoulder. Lillie was the first to speak. “We are just happy to see you Moon! Congratulations Miss Champion!”

  
“Yeah Moon! Way to go! It will be so much fun when I try to take your title!” Hau joked. Moon just laughed at the two of them, “Thanks guys! I couldn’t have done it without the help of my Pokémon!”

  
“Then how about you let your team out, and we can start this party?” The trio glanced towards the north side of the stage to see who had spoken. Professor Kukui stood there with his arm around his wife, tapping the center of a red and white sphere to enlarge it.

  
Moon nodded happily and sent out all of her teammates, and Hau did the same. All around them, different types of Pokémon began popping up around the town as all of those in attendance released their friends.

  
Hala had made his way up onto the platform, so Lille and Hau took a step back as he approached Moon. Instead of his regular yellow kimono, the snowy-haired old man wore a special red one, matching the fan tucked into his belt, detailed with beautiful white flowers.

  
“Well look who we have here folks, the first ever Champion of Alola!” Hala announced to the crowd as he clapped a strong hand onto her shoulder.

  
Cheers from all around them resounded, and Moon blushed deeply, trying to hide her eyes under her hat. “Throughout the Alola Trials, Miss Moon here was able to develop a strong bond with her Pokémon. Training them with heart and sheer determination to become as strong as ever, and trusting them to do their best in every battle fought. That love and devotion to her team, and the support of the people around her brought her to this point, and I intend to celebrate such an accomplishment.” He finished with a warm smile.

  
Moon could feel her cerulean eyes slowly filling up with tears as she listened to Hala’s speech. His words rang true, and she looked over at her faithful Pokémon. “Thank you Hala. My team and my friends mean the world to me. Thank you to everyone who helped me reach this title! We won’t disappoint you!” Moon turned toward and addressed the crowd, “Thank you so much for coming everyone! Let’s party!” she beamed with a fist in the air.

  
She turned back towards her Pokémon, “Hey guys, you go have fun okay? There is plenty of food! Come find me if you need anything.” They trilled happily in response and went to go play with all of the other Pokémon gathered around-well all except Lunala, who made a B-line towards Lille. Moon did a quick search of her surroundings, seeing who all was there.

  
Hau was at the other edge of the platform, chatting with Professor Kukui, Burnet, and Hala before making his way over to her. She noticed all of the different Trial Captains in attendance as well and her heart swelled. Those guys were always so busy, she felt very lucky they had taken the time to come celebrate with her.

  
She swept her eyes throughout the crowd, trying to find her mom. It was weird that she hadn’t made herself known yet. Normally, her mother would have already been upon her with a bone-crushing hug, right before fretting over her for the next 20 minutes.

  
When she resorted to reaching up on her toes and craning her neck to get a better view, a pair of painfully beautiful emerald eyes caught her own. Of course, Moon’s breath was caught in her throat and she quickly lost her balance, losing the eyes as quickly as she found them. When she regained her composure, Moon hurriedly glanced back up to find them again. However, she found her mother’s mischievous eyes instead…and she wasn’t alone.

  
Two tall boys with stoic smirks on their faces stood on her left. One had ashy brown hair that stuck up in all directions, sporting a handsome black shirt and green pants that fell just below his knees. The other had raven-colored hair and wore a comfortable red and white shirt that matched the hat placed on his head, with light jeans and red shoes.

  
Moon squealed loudly, drawing quite a few stares, and sprinted towards the new arrivals. She didn’t stop until she crashed into the two boys, throwing her arms around their necks. Her eyes had quickly filled up with tears as she hugged her two old friends, and laughed before finally releasing them.

  
“Red…Blue…you have no idea how good it is to see you.”

  
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Gladion wasn’t exactly what you call a “party person.” In fact, he couldn’t stand the idea of idle chitchat, or the hoards of people that seemed to follow you wherever you go that seemed to come with parties. But, he wasn’t here for himself. He was here for _her_.

  
The girl who had utterly and completely flipped his entire world upside down. Before she had come along, he was a runaway, a thief, and a hired hand for Team Skull. She brought a fire into his life that had pushed him to fight back against the injustice of the hidden agendas of the Aether Foundation.

  
He admired the drive and passion she had for Pokémon, because it greatly reflected what lay on his heart. Gladion was always frustratingly surprised when Moon curb-stomped him in battle time after time. He couldn’t believe how strong she was, which is why he had chosen for her for a rival in the first place. In every battle, she showed compassion and grace towards both him and his Pokémon, and he learned so much from her… even if he would never admit that to her.

  
Gladion scowled as he remembered the crestfallen look on her beautiful face when he announced that they weren’t friends, but not enemies either. He couldn’t understand why the statement had affected her; did she want to continue to be enemies?

  
Lillie had been the one to set the record straight, with a smack over his head. “Gladion! You told her that you two weren’t friends! After everything you went through together, how can you still think that the relationship between you two hasn’t changed!?”

  
Gladion felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. “R-r-relationship-p-p!? She would never have feelings for someone like me! I am basically a criminal, and our family almost destroyed her life!”

  
“Moon is not the type of person to hold grudges.” She retorted, “We helped her save Alola! We helped her find out the truth about her dad, Gladion. She freely forgave me for keeping my family life a secret, and we are closer than ever. Why can’t you try to accept the fact that maybe you have feelings for her? Who knows, maybe she will return them if you gave her a chance.”

  
At his sister’s persistence, he had decided to step up right here at this godforsaken party. He was a new man, and wanted to start off on the right foot when he confronted her with his feelings.

  
Gladion had even cut his hair for Pete’s sake, to help signify his change. Instead of the edgelord bangs look that he had grown accustomed to, he was now sporting a shorter style where his blonde hair was a little longer on top than the bottom, and it spiked up right towards the front. Nonetheless, a haircut could not change his personality, which was why he was hidden under a tree refusing to be seen by anyone.

  
A mighty roar drove him from his thoughts. He glanced up to see an enormous Salamance dive head first towards the wooden platform in the town center of Iki Town. Gladion recognized Moon’s dragon at once, and was nervous to see it rushing in so fast. Right before he sent out Silvally to stop them, her Salamance withdrew his wings and brought the duo to a quick standstill. The action had kicked up a whirlwind of dust, and Gladion had to throw an arm over his face to keep the dust out of his eyes.

  
Once the danger had passed, he relaxed the hand clutching Silvally’s pokeball on his belt and looked up to find her. Of course, the golden-haired beauty had hopped off her dragon with such grace it made Gladion’s heart clench. He pushed down the instinct to rush up to her right then and there, and forced himself to listen to the stocky old man’s speech.

  
He felt a small smile escape his lips when she yelled, “Let’s party!” Pokémon were being released from the pokeballs at an alarming rate, and Gladion couldn’t see the harm in letting his own stretch their legs. He shrugged, let his team out, and turned his attention to them, “Alright guys, this is a party for Moon becoming Champion. Why don’t you go wish her team congratulations?” His Pokémon nodded happily and went out amongst the crowd.

  
Once he was sure they were safe among their friends, he turned his attention back to the object of his affection. He let out a small gasp when he found her cerulean blue eyes looking back into his from afar. Gladion wanted to hold onto them forever, but they disappeared from view. He began pushing through the crown to find her again when he heard a loud squeal. Now on alert, he rushed to the wooden platform with blinding speed, ready to protect her from whatever had surprised her.

  
Gladion felt as though he had rammed into an invisible brick wall when he saw Moon crashing into the arms of two young men-good looking young men at that. Jealousy coursed through his veins as he watched the two guys throw their arms around Moon.

  
“Red…Blue…you have no idea how good it is to see you.”

  
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Before Moon could begin asking questions, she felt eyes upon her. She turned around to see a bewildered Gladion looking just as confused, (if not a little angry), as Lillie and Hau, who had walked up beside him.

  
“Guys, come here!” She gestured to her friends. They strolled over, with Gladion bringing up the rear rather cautiously.

  
“Please come meet Red and Blue, my old friends from Pallet Town! Red, Blue, this is Lille, Hau, and Gladion.” They each took their turns shaking the hands of the two new arrivals.

  
Blue spoke up after the introductions. “Its great to meet you guys! I’m glad to see that our Moon here was able to make some friends after she moved away from us,” he joked while sending Moon a wink.

  
“Ha-ha. What in the world are you guys doing here?” She wondered.

  
“How could we miss the chance to celebrate the new Champion of Alola?” Blue responded, throwing an arm around her shoulders and giving her a noogie.

  
Hau interrupted before Moon could snap at her captor. “Wait wait wait, are you telling me that the two of you are _the Red_ and _the Blue_ from Pallet Town? The Champion and former Champion of the Kanto region?” he asked with his jaw dropped.

  
“The very same. I guess Pallet Town really knows how to raise Champions huh guys?” Moon cooed after finally being released from Blue’s grasp.

  
Moon’s mother strolled over to give her daughter her long awaited bone-crushing hug. “I called them as soon as you told me yesterday that you were going to challenge the Pokémon League. They decided that there was no way you could lose, and hopped on the next flight to Alola.” she told Moon with a warm smile.

  
“That is great, guys! Thank you so much, I am so happy you are here!”

  
Gladion coughed nervously to get Moon’s attention. “Well…congratulations. I’ll be seeing you.”

  
“Wait!” she called when he turned his back to her. “I was going to suggest that…I mean if everyone wanted to hang out after the celebration tonight…we could all go back to my house for food and drinks. I would really like to catch up with everyone! I-including y-you. Please?”

  
He turned back to see her pleading eyes and couldn’t refuse. He merely shrugged his acceptance and she brightened considerably.  
“And I really like your haircut” she mumbled in embarrassment before turning to mingle with the rest of the guests around her.

  
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	3. The Campfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Note: Here is Chapter 3! I hope you enjoy it. The first few chapters are coming out rather quickly because I have plenty of time to write. Once things start picking up, I will update a little slower. Let me know what you think of the chapter. Thanks!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

Chapter 3: The Campfire

For the next hour and half, Gladion stuck to Lillie like glue. He was _not_ about to be caught up in making small talk with the random hordes of people who had made their way to Iki Town for Moon’s celebration. As disappointed as he was that he wouldn’t get a chance to tell Moon how he felt tonight, he couldn’t deny the fact that he was looking forward to spending some quality time with her and her friends.

He might not like the two newcomers due to their close friendship with Moon, but he held a begrudging respect for the two powerful trainers. Gladion would definitely have to ask about their Pokemon journeys when they were all back at Moon’s house.

Hau and Lillie were happily chatting away about something or another-Gladion wasn’t exactly paying attention. As he idly scratched Silvally behind the ear, his focus was directly toward Moon’s movements through the crowd. She seemed flustered, fidgeting with her frayed black shorts and her ruffled white blouse, as if she couldn’t get comfortable around these people.

Gladion’s heart skipped a beat when her cerulean eyes met his, seemingly pleading to get her out of there. Without a word to Hau and Lillie, he pushed his way through the throngs of people to make it to her side.

“This does not seem like your kind of thing,” he simply stated, gesturing to her fidgeting hands.

Moon laughed nervously, sending his heart into a flutter. “I guess you could say that. Crowds and celebrations make me a little nervous.”

“Well it looks like things are winding down at least, we can go back to your house soon,” he reassured her.

That seemed to perk her up a little. “You’re right. Then the real party can begin!” she gave him a small wink. “I’m going to go let Hala know that it’s time to head out, but I will meet you back at the gates, okay?”

Gladion merely nodded. No coherent words were able to escape his mouth after that wink. _Get it together man, you have a whole night to get through._ He shook his head to clear away the fogginess, and began strolling towards the gates of Iki town.

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Moon hurried away from Gladion with a sense of dread. Did she really just _wink_ at him? What was _wrong_ with her? She was going to scare him away with her flirting!

“Moon, you okay?” she turned to the side to see Red watching her with narrowed eyes.

“Y-yeah, yeah, don’t worry about me. I just did something dumb, that’s all.” Moon hurriedly changed the subject, “Hey! I’m about ready to go, I’ll just let Hala know and I will meet you and Blue by the gates okay?”

The quiet trainer simply nodded as his answer. He was never a big talker, and it looks like that fact hadn’t changed in the past four years. Moon scurried towards the stocky man on Iki Town’s wooden platform.

“Moon!” he boomed. “You are right on time for the closing ceremony. Come, take your place as the guest of honor!” Moon’s eyes widened as Hala led her towards the front of the platform. “Go on, take a seat!”

She relented, crossing her legs and attempted to maintain a good posture. Lillie and Hau found their way over and joined her on her left. Moon made a mental note that Hau was sitting a little closer than normal to Lillie, but she didn’t seem to mind. Hala led her mother to the platform so that she was sitting on her right.

Something nudged Moon’s lower back. When she turned around, her team trilled happily as they took their places on the ground behind the wooden platform. She laughed when people had to reposition themselves, so they could see around Smaug and Lunala. Marowak hopped up and made himself comfortable on Moon’s lap, giving a low growl when she began rubbing just the right spot on his forehead.

“You are going to enjoy this honey. Congratulations!” her mother hummed.

A low, steady beat of the pahu drum quieted the rambunctious crowd around them. All eyes rose towards the platform as Kiawe, the Trial Captain of Wela Volcano Park, danced onto the platform with his three ghostly Marowak spinning their flaming bone clubs around in a transfixing pattern. The sun had set about thirty minutes ago, so the blueish-green flames lit up the entire area around them. Moon smiled as she noticed her own Marowak’s face completely enthralled with the performance.

As the beat of the drum began to increase, each of the Trial Captains made their way onto the platform. Llima of Verdant Cavern, Lana of Brooklet Hill, Mallow of the Lush Jungle, Sophocles of the Hokulani Observatory, Acerola of the Abandoned Site, and Mina from Poni Island. They each began a formal routine, chanting softly.

The pῦ sounded, and each of Trial Captains froze in their place. With the beat of the pahu pah ‘I drum, they began to chant louder, moving along to the beat in beautiful, fluid movements. Moon was absolutely transfixed, and couldn’t help but squeal with glee as they each began performing the very Z-movements each of them taught her on her journey.

Fireworks were shot off into the sky as the Trial Captains completed their movements and flashed a smile towards Moon. Tremendous bursts of light erupted above them, each forming into the outline of a different Pokemon before shattering into brilliant colors. Acerola broke her place in the formation to take Moon by the hand, helping her into a standing position. The short girl with purple hair whispered into Moon’s ear, causing a grin to stretch out across her face.

Moon let out a low whistle, and Smaug gave a giant flap of his wings to join her on the platform. She mumbled a command to the enormous dragon, and he nodded his understanding.

The Trial Captains formed a semi-circle around her, and Moon took a hardened stance. The pahu pah ‘I drum began its intoxicating beat, and Moon let herself get lost in it. She crossed and un-crossed her arms, leading her movements into the claw-like finish that is the Devastating Drake Z-Move. Smaug let out a mighty roar as a bright purple aura encased him. A flurry of periwinkle and violet beams raced towards the sky in the form of a small, but powerful dragon. The energy form burst, and shimmering flecks of light trickled down onto the crowd.

A moment of silence occurred before the crowd exploded into cheers and applause. The Trial Captains gave their bows before gesturing towards Moon to do the same. Moon was positively elated as she made her way down the steps of the platform. She returned all her Pokemon to their pokeballs to save her the trouble of trying to find them later. Multiple hands clapped her on the back as she made her way towards the gate. It was finally time to go home.

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“WHAT IN THE NAME OF ARCEUS WAS THAT?”

The Champion of Alola practically rolled over laughing as she looked upon the faces of her two old friends. Red and Blue had completely lost their cool factor as they looked on their friend with a look that seemed to combine horror and drooling admiration.

Since Moon was too busy wiping the tears away from her eyes, Gladion spoke up to answer Blue’s question. “That was a Z-Move. Here in Alola, a strong bond between Pokemon and trainer can go a long way. When a Pokemon holding a Z-Crystal is combined with a certain movement from a Z-ring, a powerful energy combines the full power of both Pokemon and Trainer. The one Moon just performed was called Devastating Drake, and it was probably the strongest one I have ever seen.”

Moon’s cheeks flushed as Gladion’s comment, which he didn’t seem to notice. “Moon. You totally lucked out by coming to Alola! I wish we had that in Kanto!” Blue turned his attention away from Gladion to Moon.

She just gave a nervous smile and shrugged. “I guess I did. Hey, are you guys ready to head to the house?

The group sounded their combined agreement, and followed Moon. They made the fifteen-minute walk in a comfortable silence, taking in the beauty of Melemele Island under the full moon. When they rounded the corner, Moon turned back towards them.

“Here we are. I’m going to head to the backyard to start a fire. Red and Blue, why don’t you head to the garage and grab enough chairs for the group? Lillie and Hau, will you two grab the food and drinks my mom left out in the kitchen and bring it outside? And Gladion, want to help me outside?”

They all nodded their understanding of the duties, and took off in different directions. Gladion fell into step beside Moon as she made her way to the backyard. He glanced sideways at her nervously before speaking up.

“You have a really nice home. It seems to fit you very well.”

She smiled in agreement. “You bet. It is nice and cozy. The wooden exterior was my dad’s idea. He loved the thought of ‘being one with nature.’”

“Well, he sure had great taste. And I am really looking forward to a campfire, I haven’t been around one in a long time.” He conceded truthfully.

“Ha, I know! You always chose to hide out in those random hotel rooms.” She giggled in response.

When they reached the stone fire-pit, Gladion made his way over to the pile of firewood sitting in the corner of Moon’s backyard. He placed a few logs into the pit, and Moon released Smaug. Her faithful dragon looked up at her expectantly. “Hey buddy, would you mind spitting a small flamethrower into the fire-pit so we can have a campfire?” He happily obliged, and a second later a roaring fire was raging before them. Moon returned the dragon and flicked her eyes towards Gladion.

“Thank you for helping get the firewood. So, what made you cut your hair? I really like it.” She admitted, trying to stay focused on Gladion rather than her ferociously beating heart.

He merely shrugged, avoiding her eye contact. “I think it was a way for me to take the next step. I wanted to leave behind the guy I was…before you came around. I’m not the same person that I was, and I wanted to move forward.”

Before Moon could respond, Lillie and Hau emerged from the back door of the house. Lille carried all the ingredients for smore’s in her arms while Hau held a tray filled with six mugs, each with the face of a different Pokemon on them, and an insulated pitcher full of hot chocolate. Red and Blue also made their way into the backyard, each carrying three lawn chairs on their shoulders.

Once the group successfully set up the site, they each took a seat around the fire-pit. Blue was the first to sit down, followed by Red on his left. Hau took the seat on Blue’s right, and Lillie next to him. Moon grabbed the tray of Pokemon mugs and took her seat next to Red, and inwardly hummed as Gladion sat next to her. She poured the hot chocolate and studied her friends, trying to determine which mug each should receive. Satisfied with her decision, she passed down the mugs one by one.

Lille received the Happiny mug, Hau-Haunter, Blue-Umbreon, Red-Pikachu, Gladion-Krookodile, and she happily sipped out of her Alomomola mug.

“Ha, very nice Moon.” Blue examined his mug with a smirk.

“I thought they matched your personalities fairly well.” She shot back with a wink.

“So, Red and Blue, I would really like to hear about your travels in Kanto. I am planning on going to Cerulean City to visit Bill the Pokemon Researcher there in about a week.” Lille struck up the conversation, sipping on her hot chocolate.

Blue was the one to answer, “Well, in Kanto you can receive your first Pokemon when you are thirteen. Professor Oak is my grandpa, so Moon, Red, and I grew up playing with all the Pokemon in his lab, including the potential starters. I chose the best of the three-of course, Squirtle.” He began with a smirk.

Red raised an eyebrow at that. “True, all of the starters were powerful. But due to a fluke, Pikachu was my starter Pokemon.” A stream of light escaped Red’s belt, and the form of Pikachu appeared. He looked up at the group with a happy cry and hopped into Red’s lap, settling down.

Hau interrupted there, “wait, Pikachu was your starter? Why haven’t you evolved him yet?”

“Pikachu doesn’t want to evolve. After a run in with the Vermillion City Gym Leader, Lt. Surge, Pikachu decided that he wanted to grow stronger in his own right, rather than gain power from a Thunder Stone.” Red answered while stroking the yellow rodent’s head.

The group nodded their understanding. “During our travels, we sort of ran into some trouble,” Blue continued a little sheepishly.

Moon narrowed her eyes at that. “Wait, what do you mean trouble? You two better have stayed safe over there without me.”

Blue gave her a guilty grin. “Well, Team Rocket was the biggest criminal organization in the Kanto region, and the police were always one step behind their Pokemon raids. So, Red and I decided to take matters into our own hands. We took out a few of their bases, Red destroying more than one completely on his own, and did our best to track down the head honcho.”

Lillie and Hau looked upon the Pallet Town duo with wonderment, Gladion with a newfound respect, and Moon with frustration.

“Red! Blue! That was so dangerous, I can’t believe you put yourselves in danger like that!” she scolded.

Gladion rolled his eyes at that, “Please Moon, like you are one to talk. Who is the one who took down Team Plasma AND Lusamine with barely any help?” Moon huffed in response and allowed her old friend to continue.

“ _Anyway_ , it turned out that the leader of Team Rocket was the Viridian City Gym Leader, Giovanni. Red challenged him while I took out the grunts in his hidden base. After that, it was smooth sailing, and I became the Champion of the Kanto region.” He finished with his chest puffed out.

Red coughed and looked at Blue expectantly.

“Okay, okay, so that’s not exactly how it went. I did beat the Elite Four, but when I came face to face with the Champion, it turned out to be Red. I lost to him in a grueling battle-I mean it _really_ could have gone either way.” It was Red’s turn to roll his eyes now.

“After about a year, I decided to step down as Champion. I didn’t feel as if I was being challenged enough, and I wanted to begin training up on Mt. Silver. So, I appointed Blue to be my successor.” Red explained, shooting a smirk at Blue.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh well, it doesn’t matter how I got the title. The important thing is that I have it, and I am still currently undefeated,” Blue added with his confidence returned.

Lillie nodded and turned to face Moon. “Did you keep in touch very often, or is this the first time you have seen Red and Blue since you moved to Alola?”

“Well the first year that I was gone, I made Red and Blue call me every few days to tell me what new Pokemon they had caught and what exciting things that I was missing in Kanto. But once they competed in the Pokemon League, I change the rule to every few weeks. We have kept in touch since then, but I was never able to fly back to Kanto to visit.”

“Yeah, I talked to Moon on the phone more than my own mother” Blue complained. 

“Oh please, you loved showing off your Pokemon and you know it,” Moon retorted with a wink. He just shot a smile in her direction. “Oh, by the way, how is Sabrina doing Blue?”

Hau cocked his head in confusion. “Sabrina? Like the Saffron City Gym Leader Sabrina? According to my Kanto guide, she is one of the strongest Psychic-Type Pokemon trainers out there.”

Blue nodded, “The very same. She’s my girlfriend.”

Hau’s eyes widened. Moon noticed that he had glanced at Lillie with a blush creeping up onto his cheeks.

“How about you Red? Are you dating any super-powerful gym leaders?” Lillie asked.

Red shook his head. “No, nobody has really caught my eye. My Pokemon tend to run girls off.”

“Yeah, the last time Red had any hope with a girl was when him and Moon would play house when we were eight,” Blue joked, causing Gladion to cough up hot chocolate when it went down the wrong pipe.

Moon gave his back a few small pats, “Ha ha, very funny Blue. It’s not like you didn’t pretend to be our faithful little Ponyta during that time.”

“So Gladion, when you are finished choking on your drink, why don’t you tell us what you do?” Red glanced at Gladion, trying to change the subject.

Gladion narrowed his eyes at Red, but answered anyway. “Now that Lusamine is no longer capable of running the Aether Foundation, our assistant, Ms. Wicke, is going to begin getting me acquainted with the ins and outs of the company. I will hopefully take over in the next six months.”

“Wow, I didn’t know that. Congratulations,” Moon praised, her hand still resting on his back. The rest of the group gave their congratulations as well.

“Thank you. It will be a lot of work, but hopefully I can help steer the Foundation back in the direction our Father always intended it to be.” He acknowledged with a nod towards Lillie.

“You’ll do great Gladion, I know it.” Moon added shyly, earning her a rare smile from the blonde boy sitting next to her.

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Gladion swelled with pride at the sound of Moon’s praise. If someone like her believed in him, then maybe he really could hope to turn the Aether Foundation into a company his father would be proud of.

The group went on to discuss the regional variances of Pokemon in Alola, exchanged training and battle strategies, and shared stories of when they were younger. Gladion was really enjoying himself, aside from the comment about Red being interested in Moon. The two trainers from Kanto were interesting, and Moon seemed to be comfortable around them. He might be two years older than the rest of the group, but nobody seemed to mind and treated him as if he always belonged.

Gladion glanced down at his watch and was surprised to see that is was a quarter past two in the morning. They had been talking around the campfire for four and a half hours. He looked up to see his friends beginning to feel the effects of the late night. Lille was resting her head on Hau’s shoulder with her eyes closed while Blue was quietly discussing the best dual type strategy with Hau about his Raichu. Red was watching the flames die down while Moon sleepily petted his sleeping Pikachu.

“Hey Moon, I think it is time to call it a night. It is almost two-thirty.” Gladion suggested. Her eyes widened a little in response, “Wow, already? Time has flown by. Let’s go ahead and head to bed. There is enough sleeping space inside for everyone. Leave everything, we can clean it up in the morning.”

Hau nodded and mumbled something to Lillie, causing her to stir. He gave her a hand up, and wrapped an arm around her waist, guiding her back to the house. “I’ll make sure she gets one of the guest bedrooms. Night guys.”

Red returned Pikachu before him and Blue used Fire-Water-Grass to determine who would take the other spare bedroom bed, the other would sleep on the couch beside Hau.

Gladion stayed behind with Moon as she sent out a sleeping Primarina to put out the small flames. The Soloist Pokemon shot Moon an annoyed yawn before sprinkling a weak Aqua Jet towards the fire-pit. Moon thanked and returned her friend before falling back into her lawn chair.

“Can’t.Walk.To.Bed.” she grumbled tiredly.

Gladion smiled at her drooping eyes and held out his hands for her. “Come on, I’ll help you get there.” He silently enjoyed the way her delicate hands fit into his perfectly, and tossed an arm around her shoulder. They gave each other a small smile, and he led them into the house.

They passed Hau and Blue sleeping on adjacent couches and walked quietly up the stairs. Gladion glanced down at Moon under his arm and let out a tiny laugh when he saw her eyes were completely closed. It’s a good thing she knew this house like the back of her hand, or they might have ended up in one of the spare bedrooms and woken up Lillie or Red.

The duo finally reached her room, the furthest one down the hall. He hesitated before opening the door, nervous to step foot inside Moon’s room-especially alone with her. Inside he found himself staring a giant, fluffy Jigglypuff rug draped across the floor. Across from the rug sat two medium-sized book cases completely stuffed with books, articles, and stories about Pokemon. In the corner of her room was a queen-sized bed with a light blue comforter and pokedolls littered on top.

Moon stumbled over to her bed and dropped right on top of the comforter. Gladion smiled warmly and helped her take off her shoes before pulling back the sheeting and tucking her into them. He moved a blonde strand of hair away from her face and slowly leaned down to give her a light kiss on the forehead. Moon must have been somewhat awake for that, because she weakly grabbed onto his hand to give it a squeeze.

“Goodnight, Moon.” Gladion whispered as he shut the door behind him. Exhaustion washed over him as he made his way downstairs to crash onto the lazy-boy chair in the living room beside Blue and Hau.

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  The bright Alolan sun broke through the blinds as Moon’s seven-thirty am alarm sounded off. She flipped over the sheets and groaned as she stood up to turn it off. In the back of her mind, she wandered how she managed to get underneath her sheets last night, but the thought disappeared as she changed into her blue running shorts and white tank top. Moon tied on her running shoes, threw her hair up into a ponytail and quietly made her way downstairs.

At the foot of the stairs, she noticed Hau almost completely hanging off the side of the couch and Blue snoring loudly. Gladion shivered a little bit in his chair, so Moon gently laid one of her blankets on top of him. Content that she had not woken the boys up, she slipped out the front door and began her daily five-mile run.

Her father had been the one to encourage her to work out. If she expected to work her Pokemon out daily, then she needed to do the same for herself. She couldn’t hope to control powerful Pokemon if she was not strong enough herself.

She made her way down to the beach by Professor Kukui’s lab and slowed when she spotted Red sitting down in the sand. “Goodmorning, what are you doing awake?” she asked as she sat down next to him.

He acknowledged her with a small smile, “I wanted to give Lapras a chance to stretch her fins this morning, since we weren’t around any body of water yesterday.” Moon nodded her understanding.

“Great idea, how about I give her some company?” she enlarged Primarina’s pokeball and tapped the white button to release her starter. Primarina trilled a goodmorning and made her way into the ocean next to Lapras.

“They seem to get along well, don’t they?” Moon observed.

“They do. Two very lovely ladies,” Red joked. “You and Gladion seem to get along pretty well too.”

Moon tried to hide her blush, but Red was too attentive. “I-I don’t know. I am just hoping that we are at least friends.”

“Please, Moon. That guy is crazy about you.  He couldn’t take his eyes off you last night.” Moon’s blush deepened considerably. She had noticed Gladion was more relaxed around her last night, and he actually seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Just…” Moon looked up at Red as he finished his thought, “be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Thanks Red, I will.” She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder, enjoying the company of her old friend. After about thirty minutes of discussing their water Pokemon, Moon returned Primarina and shook the sand off her shorts.

“I’m going to finish my run, I will see you back at the house.” Red nodded a goodbye and turned back to the calm ocean to release his Blastoise for a swim.

Moon breathed in the salty air and pushed herself to run a little faster. After the pit-stop with Red, she wanted to make sure she made it home in time to shower before the others woke up.

She slowed as she approached her house, trying to catch her breath before heading inside. Once she was no longer wheezing, Moon slipped back into the house and up the stairs, careful not to wake the three sleeping boys. She stole a glance at the sleeping Gladion and felt her face warm when she remembered his lips on her forehead. He could be really sweet when he wanted to be, and she was hoping to see more of that side of him soon.

Moon’s body sang with bliss as the cold water fell onto her skin. The July nights were thankfully still cool enough to do things like smore’s and campfires, but the mornings were beginning to warm up quickly.  Moon cleaned the grime and lingering smoke smell off her and turned off the water. She towel-dried her hair, wrapped the towel around her waist, and threw open the door that connected her bedroom and bathroom.

A knock on her bedroom door caused her to scurry to find something more suitable to wear than a small towel. “Just one second!”

“Okay, its me.” Gladion’s voice rang out from behind the door. “Someone is in the other bathroom, so I was wondering if I could use yours.”

After throwing on a royal blue sun dress with white flowers decorated across it, Moon opened the door to see Gladion’s bed-head and sleepy smile. “Y-yeah, of course. I just finished, so go right ahead.”

He thanked her and headed into the bathroom with a drawstring bag over his shoulder. Her heart fluttered when she heard the water turn on, and blushed again thinking about him taking a shower just a few feet from her. Moon shook her head to keep her mind from falling in the gutter, and went ahead downstairs.

Hau and Blue were sitting on the barstools of the kitchen happily gorging a plateful of pancakes Moon’s mother had placed in front of them. “Good morning honey, would you like some breakfast?” she was sporting her Mr. Mime apron on over her clothes and pushed her reading glasses up onto the top of her head.

Moon nodded her head and gratefully accepted the pancakes as they came off the skillet. “I think Lillie and Gladion are getting ready upstairs, although we have no idea where Red is.” Hau chattered in between bites.

“I ran into Red down at the beach on my morning run. He should be coming back soon.”

“You went on a run this morning? I thought you would’ve wanted to sleep in considering the time we went to bed last night.” Blue commented with a mouthful of pancakes.

“Nah, I would’ve felt unproductive if I didn’t get my workout in.” Moon shrugged and took a bite of her breakfast.

As if on cue, Red strolled through the door with Pikachu at his side. “Morning,” he nodded at the group in the kitchen. They turned to see Lillie humming a happy tune as she bounded down the stairs.

“I smelled something wonderful cooking, I had to get ready as fast as I could.” She said with her nose sniffing the air. Lillie plopped down on the stool next to Moon as Red headed upstairs to shower now that a bathroom was open. 

Gladion made his way downstairs as well with damp hair to join the rest of the group in the kitchen. The group moved their breakfast plates over to the kitchen table so that everyone could eat together. He warmed when Moon gave him a small smile, and gave a praise of thanks to Moon’s mother for cooking breakfast. The rest of the group chimed in with their own praises.

“Oh, it is no problem kids, feel free to have as much as you want. Moon honey, do you have plans for today?” she turned towards her daughter.

Hau brightened and interrupted before Moon could get a word out, “I think we should have a few Pokemon battles today!” Everyone certainly looked pleased at the suggestion, except for Lillie.

“I don’t really like to watch Pokemon get hurt in battles, but I will watch for you guys and be ready with plenty of medicine to heal your tired Pokemon.” She muttered a little shyly.

“That would be great Lillie, thank you.” Moon said smiling at her best friend. “So, who do you want to battle Hau?”

Gladion picked that moment to speak up, “Hau, I would like to battle you today.” Everyone’s eyes widened at that. Gladion _never_ wanted to battle Hau, he always said that he wasn’t disciplined enough.

“Woah, why the sudden change of heart Gladion?” Moon questioned from across the kitchen table.

Gladion simply shrugged. “Hau was getting a little too friendly with my sister last night, I think it’s time I knock him down a few pegs.” With that explanation, Hau and Lillie deadpanned while Moon and Blue burst out laughing.

“What are you laughing about?” Red’s voice broke the uncomfortable vibe coming from half of the table.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Come and have some delicious pancakes!” Blue interjected, shooting a wink and Hau, causing him to blush deeply.

Red raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. He took his place next to Blue and began shoveling his breakfast into his mouth.

“Well, if Gladion is going to battle Hau, which one of you two would like to battle me?” Moon asked her two old friends.

Blue stood up with his chest puffed out and a fork raised, “That would be me! Let’s see how the Alola Champion fares against the Kanto Champion!” Now that she had an actual challenger, she stood up to match Blue’s confident smirk.

“Sounds good to me. I hope you are ready to lose,” she warned with a glint in her eye.

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The group finished their breakfast and worked together to wash the dishes for Moon’s mother before cleaning up the backyard.

“You all are so sweet! Good luck on all of your battles today!”

They gave their thanks and headed out the door, waving their goodbyes. Once the group had congregated outside of Moon’s front porch, she spoke up.

“Alright gang, I know the perfect place to have our battles. It will be a little bit of a trek, but it’s where I used to train.” She gave a little wink to the group before setting off south of her home. They chatted lightly as Moon led them towards the route that led to Professor Kukui’s lab, easily jumping over the ridges that stood in their way. Once they reached the lab she took a right towards the opening of Ten Carat Hill and gestured for the group to follow her.

The inside of the cave was dimly lit, but much roomier than either Blue or Red had expected. Occasionally, their eyes would catch the gleaming exterior of the Carbink which inhabited the cave. While they didn’t bother the group, the Jewel Pokemon stared after them with beady blue eyes. It took about thirty minutes to hike up through the cave, leaving the group a little breathless once they reached an opening with sunlight shining through.

“Welcome to Ten Carat Hill everybody!” Moon announced brightly as she led them into a peaceful meadow. Behind them lay the exterior of the cave, although it spread out much higher and wider than the group had noticed before. Along the outskirts of the meadow lay lush greenery and plenty of rocks scattered along the land. All in all, it was the perfect place to have a couple of Pokemon battles.

While they made their way to the center of the meadow, Moon noticed a few Rockruff and Machop peeking through the tall grass to see what the commotion is about. Lillie was the first to speak up to get this show on the road.

“So, who wants to be the first to battle?” she questioned.

Gladion and Hau stepped forward at the same time, each with a determined gleam in their eye. Gladion nodded towards Moon, and she gestured for Red, Blue, and Lillie to take their places a safe distance away from the battlefield.

Moon had volunteered to be the referee for the match, so she assumed the position in the middle of Gladion and Hau, though far enough away to not get hit with any stray attacks. Just in case though, she sent out Primarina.

“Hey girl, we are about to referee a match between Hau and Gladion. Can you please use Psychic to form a ring around the battlefield to protect the bystanders and the Pokemon that populate this area?”

“Rrrrinaa!” The Solosist Pokemon trilled at her important duty, and waddled next to her trainer. A second later, the group felt a powerful force surround the outline of the field, stopping before it spilled over into the tall grass with the curious Pokemon.

The group had decided the order of battles would be Gladion vs. Hau, then Moon vs. Blue. The winners of those matches would battle each other, and the winner of that match would face Red, since he was the one to beat. Lillie had brought plenty of Full Restores, Revives, and Hyper Potions for the group’s Pokemon in case any of them suffered damage.

Moon gave her best imitation of a Gym Leader’s referee. “This will be a three-on-three battle between Hau, the grandson of the Island Kahuna, and Gladion, the future President of the Aether Foundation.”

The two determined young men nodded towards each other, each clutching their pokeballs in their hands.

“Begin!”

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**And there is Chapter 3! I hope you liked it. Chapter 4 will be pretty battle heavy, and I think I will have a lot of fun with those scenes. Leave review if you like the story, and Happy Thanksgiving**


	4. The Tournament

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Hi there, I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for reading the story up to this point. I love battle scenes, so I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Please let me know how I’m doing with a review. Enjoy!

Chapter 4: The Tournament

“Begin!” Moon announced, thrusting her hands into the air.

Hau enlarged a pokeball in his hand and tossed it into the air, “Crabonable, let’s go!” A massive crab with stark-white fur appeared before him. Instead of pincers, the Wooly Crab Pokemon bore two huge hammer-like fists covered in navy and lavender plates, similar to those scattered across it’s chest and underbelly.

Gladion narrowed his eyes at the beast. Not showing a hint of fear, he sent out his own Pokemon. Compared to Crabonable, the Pokemon was a dwarf. It had blackish-blue fur and a regal cardinal fan wrapped around its neck and stretched outwards from its head. Weavile clashed its razor-sharp claws together with a sneer towards Hau’s Crabonable.

“Crabonable, crush it with Ice Hammer!” Hau ordered, kicking off the battle.

“Dodge, and use Night Slash” Gladion countered.

The Wooly Crab Pokemon let out a roar and began its decent upon Weavile. Its right arm radiated a blue-ish white glow, and Crabonable rose to crash down onto its victim with incredible momentum. Weavile was ready for the attack however, a second before the Ice Hammer collided, it sidestepped with blinding speed and countered with a ferocious slash from it’s blade-like claws.

Crabonable screeched in pain at the critical hit, and Hau narrowed his eyes at the amazing speed Weavile presented. “Surround it with Stone Edge!” Crabonable scurried back to Hau’s side of the field before slamming its giant fists onto the battlefield. The ground shook violently as dozens of giant stones broke through the ground heading towards Weavile. Gladion was ready however, “Cover the field with Ice Shard, then break up the stones with Brick Break!”

Weavile jumped into action, easily dodging the sharp stones protruding towards it. Once in the air, it blasted an icy storm of gleaming shards towards the battlefield. Once the shards hit the ground, ice spread surprisingly quickly across, covering the patches of grass and every stone in the area. Using its blinding speed, Weavile used the ice to slide effortlessly across the field, shattering every stone it came across with its glowing claws.

Moon raised an impressed eyebrow at Gladion’s counter-strategy. Hau had tried to slow down Weavile with Stone Edge by forcing random stones to pop up around the field, but Gladion had used Ice Shard to weaken the stones enough to break easily, while still covering everything with ice. While it was clear Weavile had trained to use this situation to its advantage, Crabonable had not. The giant Wooly Crab Pokemon was helplessly sliding across the ice, desperately trying to find something to help it regain its balance.

Hau began to sweat as he looked upon his Pokemon. “Use Brutal Swing to break up the ice around you! Use Close Combat when you can!”

Gladion smirked as he watched the giant crab smash its fists onto the ice. Instead of breaking, the ice simply grew sharper and began expanding over Crabonable’s hammer-like fists.

“Get in close and use Night Slash, and finish it with Shadow Claw” he ordered calmly.

While Crabonable was still trying to break up the ice that had began to grow slowly around its body, Weavile took off from its position and appeared right behind the Wooly Crab Pokemon. In a matter of seconds, Weavile had landed two critical hits on crab’s back, sending it flying across the ice. Hau hollered at his Pokemon to get up, but Crabonable was unconscious.

He returned his fallen Pokemon with a murmur of praise towards the pokeball. “That was a good first round Gladion, but you won’t fare very well against my next Pokemon!” A small beam of energy formed into Hau’s Raichu. Red and Blue looked on with interest at the Alolan Pokemon, noticing the differences between it and a normal Raichu.

Hau’s Raichu levitated on its massive tail in a surf-like position. Its fur was a soft orange with white tuffs of fur on its arms, feet, and belly. Raichu’s yellow ears twitched in anticipation while its psychic blue eyes studied Gladion.

“Yeah! Go Hau! You can do it!” Lillie jumped up, cheering loudly.

Hau gave her a warm smile while Gladion just rolled his eyes and returned Weavile. “Go, Crobat!” The purple Bat Pokemon gave a shrill screech as it laid its eyes on Raichu. Its powerful blue wings fluttered quickly in preparation for battle.

“Cross Poison.” He simply stated with a tight smile.

In the blink of an eye, Crobat had vanished and appeared in front of Mouse Pokemon, slicing it with a flash of its wings before Hau could even try to counter it.

Moon grimaced at the poison that was now injected into Raichu. If Hau wanted to win this, he was going to have to do something about Gladion’s incredibly fast Pokemon, and he would need to do it fast.

Hau must have been thinking along the same lines, because he called out, “Raichu, we are on a time crunch! Quick Attack and use Psychic, then follow up with Thunderbolt!”

“Crobat, don’t let it hit you, and use Acrobatics!” Gladion countered.

Crobat took off in a blur as Raichu tried to follow it with Quick Attack. Unfortunately for Crobat, Raichu was able to stop it in its tracks with a powerful pink aura of energy. Hau cheered on his Pokemon, while Gladion shouted at Crobat to break free of the Psychic attack.

“Slam it down, and follow with thunderbolt!” Crobat’s face twisted in pain as the pink aura of energy forced it into the ground. Crobat didn’t have time to recover before an incredible lightning strike fell from the sky, blasting it across the field. Hau was a little shocked to see that Crobat wasn’t unconscious after taking the attack.

 “You can do it Crobat, use X-Scissor!” With a newfound rage, the Bat Pokemon sneered and lifted itself off the ground, shooting towards its opponent.

“Focus Blast Raichu!” Hau cried. X-Scissor was the strongest bug-type move a Pokemon could learn, if it hit its mark, Raichu would be in trouble. 

The Mouse Pokemon had just finished charging its attack when Crobat was upon it. When the two collided, a considerable blast kicked up a sandstorm of dust and rubble, causing the two trainers to throw up their arms to cover their eyes. The bystanders didn’t have to worry about that though, Primarina’s psychic force-field was more than enough protection.

When the dust settled, both Crobat and Raichu were unconscious. The force from both attacks must have completely overwhelmed Crobat, and Raichu had been drained too quickly from the poison in its system. Hau pulled out Raichu’s pokeball and returned his friend. He looked over at Gladion, who was doing the same, and gave him a huge grin.

“This has been so much fun! One more round!”

Gladion noticeable stiffened at that comment, causing a tug at the corner of Moon’s mouth. She knew Gladion had never battled “just for fun,” and that he was pretty much foreign to the concept. However, he was going to need to get used to the idea, and Hau was the perfect person to introduce it to him.

“You’re right. It has been fun, Hau. But that doesn’t mean I will hold back!” He nodded in agreement and tossed out his next pokeball. A humanoid Pokemon appeared before them, standing a few inches shorter than Gladion. Blue and black fur covered its body, and dangerous looking spike rose from the back of its wrists.

Hau flashed an even bigger grin at the new Pokemon. “Wow, Lucario are really rare! How cool! Komala, come on out!” A smaller, sleeping Pokemon formed from the red beam of energy. The koala-looking Pokemon was covered with blueish grey fur and was holding tightly to a small log. Overall, it didn’t look very impressive, but Gladion knew better than to underestimate Hau.

“Earthquake!” Hau cried. The tiny Drowsing Pokemon’s eyes shot open. With more speed than Gladion thought possible for such a little Pokemon, Komala jumped in the air and came down with great velocity, slamming its log into the ground. Gladion shouted for Lucario to use Extreme Speed as the earth around it shattered. The battlefield that had been a little slushed from the melting ice of the first round was now utterly destroyed. Lucario was smart though, and gracefully jumped from boulder to boulder with great speed to avoid the powerful earthquake.

Hau gritted his teeth as he saw Lucario had gotten away without a scratch. “Wood Hammer!”

“Flash Cannon!” Now that the earth had stopped shaking, Lucario landed safely on the ground and quickly formed a bright orb of energy and launched it at Komala. Despite it’s now closed eyes, the Drowsing Pokemon sidestepped the blast and smacked Lucario with the blunt of its small log. Lucario nashed its teeth together in pain from the blow, but fired back with a pink aura of energy at Gladion’s command.

Komala was lifted into the air from the Psychic attack, thrashing around desperately trying to escape from Lucario’s hold. With a flick of Lucario’s paw, Komala was thrown across the broken battlefield. The Drowsing Pokemon pushed itself up, and Hau ordered it to fight back with Shadow Claw.

“Finish it with Aura Sphere” Gladion called out with a smirk.

Komala rushed forward with a swirling ghostly energy around it towards Lucario, but the Aura Pokemon simply took the hit with a grimace. Before Komala could shuffle back towards Hau’s side of the field, Lucario had formed a dark sphere between its paws and forced it towards Komala, dead-on.

Komala was instantly knocked unconscious by the super-effective attack, and Hau recalled his Pokemon with a word of praise to Komala’s pokeball. “What a great battle, it was fun!” he called towards Gladion.

Gladion gave Lucario a congratulatory pat on the back and returned his Aura Pokemon.

“Three of Hau’s Pokemon are knocked out, while Gladion still has two able to battle, making him the winner!” Moon announced.

Before the two trainers stepped forward from their spots, Primarina’s eyes glowed with a powerful psychic energy. The destroyed battlefield was quickly reassembling and being put back in place. After another thirty seconds of this, it looked almost as good as new. A few cracks here and there, but they couldn’t be avoided.

Moon looked down and praised her starter, “Great job girl, thanks for your help!” She recalled Primarina before turning towards the two competitors.

The two gave each other a firm handshake and stepped away. “That was an exciting battle you two. I am looking forward to seeing what else you can do.” Red congratulated Hau and Gladion and they both nodded their thanks.

“Let me heal all of your poor Pokemon.” Lillie interrupted, she really didn’t enjoy seeing Pokemon in any kind of pain. The boys each gave Lillie their three pokeballs from battle and she sprayed them with a remedy of Revives and Full Restores.

“Thanks Lillie, I can now forgive you for cheering for Hau instead of me during our battle.” Gladion shot a joking wink towards his sister. She gave a sheepish grin and placed a hand behind her head.

“He, he. Sorry about that. You both did so well.”

“You really did. It was a great battle to watch.” Moon praised the duo. Blue stepped up and pointed a finger towards Moon. “Now that that battle is over with, it is time to get ours started!”

All joking now put to the side, Moon narrowed her eyes and gave Blue a dangerous smile. “Ready when you are.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….......................................

The two made their way to opposing ends of the battlefield. Red stepped forward to referee the match, while Hau’s Raichu stood to protect the bystanders and surrounding Pokemon with its Psychic.

“This will be a three-on-three battle between Blue, Current Champion of Kanto, and Moon, Current Champion of Alola.” He gave a tilt of his hat and announced, “Begin!”

 Blue gave an arrogant smirk and threw out his first pokeball. A massive dog-like Pokemon formed from the red beam of light. Arcanine had a handsome cream-colored mane that stretched across its chest up towards the top of its head. Moon noticed that its orange and black coloring shimmered, indicating proper care.

“I can tell you’ve trained Arcanine well.” Moon praised her old friend. “But, proper care won’t be enough to beat my Pokemon,” she shrugged and tossed out her first pokeball. Dugtrio gave a happy cry to its trainer as it appeared before turning towards Blue and Arcanine with its eyes narrowed.

While Dugtrio was massive for its species, so was Arcanine. The massive dog Pokemon towered over Moon’s Dugtrio, giving both Arcanine and Blue a false sense of security. Moon intended to wipe that smirk off Blue’s face very quickly.

“Arcanine, Flare Blitz!” he ordered, still oozing arrogance. The dog Pokemon roared and surrounded itself with white-hot flames. It charged straight toward Dugtrio, who made no attempt to move out of the way.

Instead of calling out a counterattack, Moon drew out a low, ominous whistle. Seconds before Arcanine rammed into Dugtrio with incredible force, the earth groaned with a mighty roar and the ground below the Dog Pokemon broke apart. The Mole Pokemon was visibly panting alone on the only patch of ground that survived the incredible Fissure. Dugtrio cried as it forced the earth to shake and reappear on the surface, sporting a completely unconscious Arcanine.

Silence.

Blue’s jaw dropped towards the floor as he looked upon his Pokemon. “H-how? _Nobody_ beats my Arcanine, _especially_ in _one_ move! What the hell was that?” his eyes were wide with fear as he gawked at his old friend.

Moon simply shrugged. “You underestimated my team. Don’t do it again.” A warm gust slid over the field, and Moon was happy that she had worn her dress today. It was the perfect weather to spend time with her Pokemon and knock Blue to the ground.

Blue’s eyes flared up at the challenge, and he sent out his next Pokemon. Moon would by lying if she said she wasn’t a little intimidated by the enormous 40-foot sea serpent that appeared on the field. Gyarados were notorious for being hard to control due to their unbelievably bad tempers, and Gary’s Pokemon didn’t seem to contradict the rumors. It had locked onto Moon and gave a deafening roar.

Moon shook off her fear and returned Dugtrio, it was exhausted from the one-hit KO attack, and she needed to give her other Pokemon a chance to stretch their legs/wings. She tossed out her next pokeball and sent out Vikavolt. The Stag Beetle Pokemon was not the least bit intimidated by Blue’s Gyarados, and even snipped his pincers towards the beast to show it.

Gyarados did not seem to appreciate the threat. “Use Thrash!” Blue ordered. The sea serpent’s eyes flashed dangerously red with rage and Gyarados rushed towards Vikavolt with severe intensity, with no control over its ginormous flailing body.

“ACT now.” Moon called out. She didn’t particularly like letting her opponent know what orders she gave to her Pokemon, so she had trained night and day with her friends to develop strategies and techniques to throw others off balance. Her battle with Professor Kukui was an exception to the norm, but he had watched almost every Grand Trial battle she had, so he knew what to expect from her. 

ACT was a mixture between Aerial Ace, Crunch, and Thunder. Vikavolt shot up into the sky, so she knew her friend heard her over Gyarados’ maniacal roaring. 

“Don’t let it get away! Use Hydro Pump!” Blue demanded with an angry glint in his eye, a little too similar to his Pokemon for Moon’s liking. Without pausing to gain control of itself, Gyarados rose its gaping jaw towards Vikavolt and blasted an immense amount of water straight towards it. The Stag Beetle Pokemon had generated an incredible lightning strike whilst in the air, and forced it to surround its body. While the electricity would cause damage to any other Pokemon, Moon and Vikavolt had spent months mastering the technique, and Vikavolt had full control over it now. Instead of attempting to dodge the forceful Hydro Pump, it simply slammed full force into the water, and began pushing back with great intensity.

Blue’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening. The electricity surrounding Vikavolt’s body was being forced into the twister of Hydro Pump, creating a conductive vortex of volatile electric water. Vikavolt pushed through the vortex and slammed its pincers into Gyarados’ throat, breaking into its bulky armored plates. The Atrocious Pokemon cried out in pain, causing the battlefield to shake. The electricity, now supercharged from the water of Hydro Pump, enclosed around Vikavolt’s frame burst through its pincers and coursed through Gyarados’ body.

The adrenaline from Gyarados’ Thrash allowed it to survive the pain from Vikavolt’s combination attack, but it was fading fast. The tired roars were much less intimidating, and it would twitch occasionally from the paralysis it received from the attack that broke through its armor.

Moon wanted to put the giant Pokemon out of its misery, so she drew out a high, short note between her lips. Vikavolt sprang into motion to perform X-Scissor. A ball of white hot energy quickly formed in front of Vikavolt’s pincers and began molding itself into a fiery shape of an X.

“Come on Gyarados, use Crunch!” Blue desperately pleaded. With every last bit of its energy, Gyarados rushed forward towards Vikavolt with glowing fangs. It surprisingly was able to maneuver its way around Vikavolt’s powerful bug-type attack, and bit down hard against the Stag Beetle’s armor.

Without a cue from Moon, Vikavolt summoned another powerful lightning strike from above while still entangled in Gyarados’ massive jaw. While the attack would damage Vikavolt as well, it would finish off the sea serpent for good.

Gary quickly recalled his fallen Pokemon as it was thrashing about the ground, this time from overexposure to too much electricity. He was able to see Lillie stifling a cry into Hau’s shoulder from the corner of his eye. Moon felt particularly bad about how brutal that round was, but she wasn’t about to let up. Pokemon healed at an incredibly fast rate, and medicine nowadays was nothing short of a miracle. As soon as Gyarados was exposed to a full restore, it would be as good as new.

“You are much better than I originally thought Moon.” Blue addressed his old friend with newfound respect. “I didn’t expect the first Champion to come out of a new Pokemon League to be quite so strong. I was wrong.” He gave her a tight nod before returning to his confident demeaner.

“So, let’s move on! Let’s go Alakazam!” he shouted and tossed out a pokeball to reveal a bi-pedal Pokemon with soft yellow fur covered in bronze armor across its chest, wrists, and knees. It had two gleaming silver spoons in its three-fingered hands and radiated an aura of pure energy.

Moon nodded to Blue with a smile, happy to know that she had earned his respect as a fellow Champion. She sent out her own Pokemon, and Marowak appeared before them with narrowed eyes towards its opponent. Moon knew that this would be an interesting battle. Psychic types were weak against Ghost types, so Marowak had the upper hand, but she never put much stock into type advantages. If a trainer and their Pokemon trained hard enough, they could overcome type advantages easily. She knew Blue hadn’t come to be undefeated as the Kanto Champion by failing to overcome those kinds of disadvantages.

He also seemed to have learned his lesson in patience during the past two rounds. He crossed his arms, soaking up the calm aura Alakazam exuded, and waited for Moon to begin the battle.

Moon was more than happy to oblige. She gave a sharp, brief whistle and Marowak ignited the ghostly blue flames on the ends of its bone club before twisting it quickly around in front of its chest. In an instant a white-hot wall of flames had formed and was forced towards Alakazam.

“Protect, then use Psychic!” Blue ordered. A powerful wall of blue-gray light appeared before Alakazam, shielding it from the charging inferno. Not a moment before the flames died out, Alakazam teleported directly behind Marowak with brilliant glowing eyes. An aura of pink energy engulfed Marowak, and its face twisted in pain as Alakazam brought it slowly into the air.

Moon could tell her friend was fighting the attack with every fiber of its being, but Blue had an incredibly powerful, unrelenting, psychic type at his disposal. She winced as Marowak flew and crashed into the Psychic border Raichu continued to uphold.

She drew out a whistle that was longer and lower in tone. Marowak shook off the attack and jumped up slightly before crashing into the ground with its club, generating a crushing Earthquake attack. The ground surrounding Alakazam roared as it shot up colossal boulders while breaking apart.

“Protect, then Focus Blast!” Before the boulders could reach the levitating Alakazam, the wall of blue-grey light appeared again, protecting the Psi Pokémon from the blast. While it summoned the energy to create its next attack, Marowak slammed a glowing fist right into Alakazam’s chest. Blue winced as his Pokémon hit the ground with a thud.

The Earthquake had only been a distraction for Alakazam. Moon knew Blue would protect itself against the aftermath of the attack, and the blast would be the perfect cover for Marowak charging up Sucker Punch. As soon as Alakazam’s shield faded, it would be defenseless against the super-effective attack.

“You got this buddy, use Shadow Ball!” he encouraged the Psi Pokémon. Moon responded with a 3-second whistle, and both pokemon began charging a swirling ball of growing dark energy. After a few seconds, both pokemon cried out as they forced the Shadow Balls towards their opponents. The attacks met in mid-air with a grand explosion, causing Raichu to place a thin psychic wall in front of both trainers to protect them from the blowback. When the dust settled, each Pokémon was visibly exhausted.

Moon frowned at the fact that both attacks seemed to be equal in strength. She knew Blue was an undefeated champion who had been training with Alakazam for years, but that didn’t matter to her. Each of her Pokémon strived to be champions in their own right, and she knew Marowak wouldn’t like that it’s Shadow Ball had not overcome Alakazam’s. She made a mental note to improve each of her Pokémon’s attacks, then focused back on the battle.

She gave Marowak the cue to use Sucker Punch again, and watched as Alakazam attempted to throw up another Protect at Blue’s command, but it was tired. The blue-grey light wall was noticeably weaker, and when Marowak slammed into the wall with a glowing fist, the protective wall shattered into a million pieces. Alakazam grunted as it took the Sucker Punch to the cheek, and fell back onto the broken battlefield unconscious. Unfortunately, the exertion of energy it took to break through the Protect was too much for Marowak, and it fell to its knees before letting go of its bone and collapsing forward.

“Blue has three Pokémon unable to battle, while Moon still has two usable Pokémon, making her the winner!” Red announced, breaking the silence.

She returned Marowak and whispered her praises to its pokeball, while Blue did the same with Alakazam. The trainers knew to wait for Raichu to align the battlefield back to normal before stepping forward. When they joined the others, Moon wrapped her arms around Blue’s neck.

“That was a great battle Blue.” she muttered to her old friend. He gave her a few pats on the back before breaking the hug.

“It was. You have grown so much since we last saw you, and this battle opened my eyes to how strong you are.” Blue replied with a confident smile.

Lillie interjected before Moon could get in another word. “Oh please please let me heal your Pokémon! That was such a brutal battle!”

The two champions chuckled and each gave Lillie their three pokeballs. She hurriedly sprayed four of the balls with Max Revives, and sprayed the others with Full Restores. She visibly calmed down now that she knew there wasn’t any Pokémon in pain.

Hau gave her a warm smile and rubbed her back encouragingly before turning towards Moon and Blue. “That was incredible guys! What a fantastic battle to be able to watch!”

Red simply gave a nod, knowing that he would most likely be facing Moon in the final round. Gladion was a great trainer, but Moon was just on a whole other level.

Speaking of Gladion, he was standing next to Lillie with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were filled with humor as he spoke to Blue. “Great try Blue, but it just wasn’t enough to beat Moon. She is something else.”

Moon felt her cheeks warm at Gladion’s praise and gave him a small smile. Blue just laughed and responded, “She definitely is.”

Rotom appeared at that moment from Moon’s bag. “Bzzzzrt. Incoming call from your mom bzzzzzt.” The Pokémon-pokedex levitated in front of her face and must have clicked “answer” internally, because Moon’s mother appeared on the screen.

“Hi honey! Lunch is almost ready if you want to come on home. There is plenty for everyone!” She smiled warmly at her daughter.

“Thanks Mom! On our way!” she replied and shut down the screen before putting Rotom back in her bag.

“Great timing on those battles, I am plenty hungry for lunch now!” Lillie clapped her hands together and grabbed Hau’s hand, pulling him towards the cave entrance. He stumbled a little bit before breaking out into a run after her, followed by the rest of the group. Battling was a sure fire way to work up an appetite.

The group of trainers-and Lillie-raced out of the meadow, through the cave, and back towards Moon’s house. As they neared the gate, Moon broke out in front of the group, crashing through the front door towards the food. Moon’s mom had prepared delicious sandwiches for everybody, which they all devoured.

“Looks like everyone was really hungry! I guess that means you have been working up quite the sweat!” Moon’s mother observed as she watched the boys bite into their sixth sandwich.

“Yes ma’am, Gladion and I had a fantastic battle, then Blue and Moon. Next Moon and Gladion will battle, then the winner will face Red.” Hau explained in between bites.

“Yup. Moon may be the champion, but that doesn’t mean she can’t lose to my Pokémon” Gladion chimed in, shooting Moon a challenging smirk.

Moon put a conscious effort into making sure her heart wasn’t audible to those around her when Gladion gave her that look. She could only manage an embarrassing smile in return and silently cursed herself for losing her cool. But _man_ , she _really_ liked when he looked at her.

The group helped clean up the kitchen before heading back outside. The day had grown gradually warmer, so the short break in the air conditioning had rejuvenated everyone’s energy. Instead of racing off towards the meadow again, they decided to take their time and enjoy the short journey.

Hau and Lillie were walking ahead with Blue, chatting about the morning’s battles. Red hung back with Gladion and Moon and discussed their upcoming match.

“Moon, I enjoyed your demonstration of keeping your strategies hidden from your opponent. It surprised me to see how well you fared against Blue. I’m interested to see how Gladion does in the next battle.” Red expressed, shooting a glance over to the blonde-haired boy walking on Moon’s left.

Moon nodded towards her old friend. “Thank you. My Pokemon have worked hard to learn how to follow orders from the length and pitch of a whistle, plus the use of combination moves. Gladion helped throughout my journey too.”

“Uhh, I think you mean that I randomly challenged you because I naively believed I had grown stronger, right before you curb-stomped me to the ground.” Gladion recalled with a shake of his head.

“That’s not how I saw it.” Moon turned to look at Gladion in his painfully beautiful emerald eyes, “You were always there when I needed a really strong competitor. My Pokemon needed to be pushed to their limits, and you always battled with the strength and intensity that I was looking for.” This time, it was Gladion’s time to blush.

Red looked upon their conversation with a small smirk. If Gladion showed up to this battle with the same kind of energy Moon described, it would definitely be worth watching. He didn’t doubt that Moon would be his opponent in the final round, but she had a soft spot for Gladion, and he would really like to see how she handled her feelings in battle.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………........................................

Moon and Gladion stood on opposing ends of the makeshift battlefield in the meadow. The taste of anticipation in the air was thick as Red stepped up to the designated referee spot.

“This will be a two on two battle between Gladion, the future President of the Aether Foundation, and Moon, the Current Champion of Alola.” The duo nodded to each other and took a pokeball clipped to each of their belts.

“Begin!”

Gladion tossed his pokeball, and out of the red beam of energy Porygon-Z appeared. Red and Blue looked on with interest at the change in the Alola Pokemon. Instead of the sharp edges and cotton candy red and blue colors surrounding its body, this type of Porygon was sleek and smooth with darker coloring. It cried out in a series of electronic numbering when its opponent appeared before them.

“Rinnnnnaaaaaaa” The Soloist Pokemon sung out in a beautifully dangerous voice. Moon knew that Porygon-Z was able to use Zap Cannon, which could devastate Primarina if it hit its mark, so she decided to make the first move.

“Freeze!” She ordered. Primarina quickly shot out an incredibly powerful blast of water towards Porygon-Z.

“Counter with Tri-Attack!” Gladion yelled. Unfortunately, due to the time and energy required to form the three elements of the attack, Porygon-Z could only shoot out a half-charged burst of energy to lessen the impact of Primarina’s Aqua Jet. It was still completely soaked, but the attack didn’t do much damage.

Before Porygon-Z had a chance to shake off the water, the temperature had dropped dramatically. A vicious whirlwind of icy wind surrounded the battlefield, obscuring everyone’s vision beyond 2 feet in front of them.

Gladion began to panic when his Pokemon disappeared from his sight. “Use Tri-Attack to get out of there, and use Zap Cannon to clear the field!”

Moon smiled at Gladion’s attempt to regain his vision of the field. He could try, but the Blizzard would only let up when she was ready for it to. She knew Porygon-Z would be frozen solid inside of the ice storm, but she didn’t want to give it a chance to thaw out.

She let out a brief, sharp whistle and trusted that her starter Pokemon heard her.

“Recover!” Gladion shouted into the storm. Moon narrowed her eyes. That would be a problem.

She trusted Primarina to follow through on her orders, but if Porygon had used Recover, then it probably brok-

Before Moon could finish her thought, a powerful stream of fire, lightning, and water stretched across the field. Her suspicions had been correct.

The Blizzard was slowly weakening in front of them, and an intense flash of light forced the trainers to protect their eyes. When they opened them again, the field had been completely cleared except for the residual cold. Moon gritted her teeth when she saw Porygon-Z looking only slightly berated on Gladion’s side of the field.

“Great job buddy! Now use Dark Pulse!” Gladion cheered on his friend.

Before he was even finished with the command, Primarina’s eyes flashed brightly and Porygon-Z was enveloped in a bright pink aura. She could be a little temperamental, and the fact that her opponent destroyed her precious Blizzard seemed to frustrate the heck out of her. Moon winced when Primarina cried out and sent Porygon-Z crashing into Raichu’s psychic barrier.

Moon couldn’t help but be impressed when the Virtual Pokemon shook off the pain from the Psychic attack and levitated a little slower than normal back to Gladion’s side of the field. Porygon-Z then quickly formed a dark ring in front of its chest before shooting it and three other rings off towards Primarina.

“Take it. Then finish it with Moonblast.” Moon directed. Primarina’s face twisted in pain as the dark-type attack hit, but didn’t hesitate to raise her flippers up to take in power from the moon.

“Zap Cannon!” Gladion cried out desperately. Unfortunately, Porygon-Z had taken too much damage from Primarina’s psychic attack to land the electric attack before it was hit with a powerful column of energy.

Primarina gave a content smirk as Gladion recalled his unconscious Pokemon. Moon, on the other hand, was quite happy to see that Gladion had raised his Pokemon so well. Not many Pokemon could survive Primarina’s Blizzard and Psychic attack back to back.

Moon recalled her starter and sent out Smaug. Her faithful dragon roared happily when it saw the trainer, but narrowed its eyes when Gladion’s Silvally appeared on the field. Moon felt a lump of emotion catch in her throat when she saw Silvally. The poor Pokemon was created artificially in a secret lab underneath the Aether Foundation by combining a string of different DNA samples. Gladion found out what his mother was up to and stole the then Type: Null from her clutches. After that, he was on the run to protect the Pokemon from his mother.

By Gladion showing it love and friendship, Type: Null had broken free of its cage-like helmet and evolved into Silvally. While it was a strange creature, Moon knew that Gladion loved it above all else.

“I hope your Salamance is ready for a tough battle!” Gladion called out, shaking Moon from her thoughts.

She smiled at her dragon and nodded towards Gladion, who ordered Silvally to start off with Thunderbolt. In response to the powerful lightning strike barreling towards the dragon from a dark cloud, Moon drew out a long whistle and her Salamance countered the Thunderbolt with an immense wall of white hot flames. A tremendous explosion filled the area when the two attacks collided, and a flurry of dark smoke and dust whipped into the air.

Without hesitation, Smaug barreled into the smoke and gave a mighty roar before it blasted Dragon Rage without any sort of concentration. Moon smiled as she watched her dragon attack, she really just wanted to keep Gladion on his toes.

Fortunately for him, he was ready for it. A blur appeared on Smaug’s left before it rammed straight into the dragon’s side with absurd strength. Moon narrowed her eyes as the Dragon Rage was cut off when Smaug was sent barreling towards Raichu’s psychic barrier.

“Up! Dragon Blast!” Moon called out before Silvally could ram into Smaug again. Her dragon’s eyes flashed with rage before it forced its powerful wings down in one fluid motion. With incredible speed, Smaug shot upwards into the sky and disappeared.

“Be ready Silvally.” Gladion warned nervously. “Tri-Attack and Crunch when you see it again.”

The earth shook when Smaug revealed itself with a mighty roar, and Moon couldn’t help but smile as she watched Hau and Lillie cover their ears. With blinding speed, the Dragon Pokemon sped towards its opponent surrounded by white hot flames.

Dragon Blast was a technique Moon was quite proud of. It utilized the incredible speed developed from Fly, and combined the heat and power of Fire Blast and Dragon Rage. When she could find an isolated island to train on, she would train with Smaug to add Draco Meter in there. It would be particularly devastating when it was perfected.

Silvally blasted a Tri-attack to try to buffer the power of Dragon Blast, but still caught the brunt of the attack. The Synthetic Pokemon was thrown back thirty feet with a thud. It shakily stood up and tried to regain a fighting stance and turned back towards Smaug.

“Thunderbolt, then Crunch!” Gladion cried out.

Moon dropped the tone of her whistle dramatically, and Smaug’s eyes danced with delight. It locked onto the lightning bolt headed its direction, and dashed forward at the last second to evade it. Silvally took advantage of the distraction and locked onto Smaug’s armor with its powerful jaws.

While the attack would normally do quite a bit of damage, Smaug had been expecting the attack and had surrounded itself with an enormous amount of energy. Silvally was only able to hold on for a few seconds before being blasted backwards in pain. Smaug roared, and a second later medium-sized meteors were plummeting down towards the meadow. Silvally cried out in surprise and attempted to dodge the onslaught of the attack.

Even with its diminished speed, it was able to dodge most of the meteors. Unfortunately, it was struck on its shoulder and backside and was knocked unconscious. Moon wasn’t surprised, not many Pokemon could survive a hit from Draco Meter.

Gladion recalled Silvally and muttered thanks and praises to its pokeball before glancing up at Moon. The trainers waited for Raichu to straighten out the battlefield and left their corners. Moon ran up to her Salamance and sung her praises to the faithful dragon, who cooed and trilled happily at the affection. The rest of the group made their way to the trainer and her Pokemon and admired their close bond.

Gladion was the first to speak up, “Great battle Moon, it is always a pleasure to battle you.” He announced with a dip of his head.

“You too, Gladion.” She nodded back to the blonde-haired boy with a flush of her cheeks.

“Please, let me heal your Pokemon!” Lillie pleaded with a firm grasp on her brother’s arm. He laughed and nodded before handing her the two pokeballs to be healed.

Hau and Blue added in their praises of the battle as well, while Red kept his eyes on Moon. She acknowledged her old friend with a dangerous glint in her eye. Butterfree danced in her stomach as she thought about her upcoming match.

Red was by far the strongest trainer she had ever come across. Even as children, he was the one who put countless hours and hard work into learning everything there is to know about Pokemon, and that was before he actually received one. Even reigning as the Kanto Champion was not enough of a challenge. He spent a year and a half training on top of Mt. Silver, the incredible mountain range that separated the Kanto and Johto regions. She had read plenty of stories about it back when she lived in Pallet Town, and knew enough that only powerful Pokemon could survive up at the top. He would be the toughest trainer she had ever faced, but she was too excited to even think about being hesitant.

She shook herself out of her thoughts as she realized Lillie was asking her a question.

“I’m sorry, what?” Moon questioned sheepishly.

“I said, why don’t we take a little break before the final battle? It would give our Pokemon a chance to relax.” Lille repeated.

Moon grinned, “That’s a great idea, Lillie!” She released all six of her Pokemon in the next few seconds, and they all trilled at her happily before glancing around them expectantly.

The others followed suit and released their Pokemon as well-except for Red. Moon took out her Refresh kit and set to work on cleaning her Pokemon’s coats and wiping down their armor. After every battle, she always took the time to make sure her Pokemon were happy and healthy, and rewarded them with rainbow colored Pokebeans. This great care was the reason her Pokemon were three times the size of any others of their same species. She had taken the time to learn and understand the type of pokebean each of her Pokemon enjoyed, and which direction they liked having their fur brushed. Even her friends with plated armor liked to be cleaned a certain way. If a trainer couldn’t understand their pokemon’s unique personalities, along with their likes and dislikes, they could never reach their full potential.

The rest of the group gave praises to their Pokemon who had battled, and shared the stories with the ones who didn’t participate. Gladion gently scratched Silvally behind the ear while Weavile climbed up his back and rested comfortably on his shoulder. Hau’s Pokemon were enjoying the attention from Lillie, who fawned over all of them, especially Espeon and Raichu. Lille always kept a small hand on one of Lunala’s massive wings however, she could never forget about her oldest friend. Red was helping Blue feed some of Moon’s pokebeans to Blue’s enormous Pokemon. Gyarados especially needed two people to throw food into its mouth.

Once she was done refreshing all her Pokemon, she turned back towards the group. “How is everyone feeling? You think you are ready for me Red?” she asked with a hint of challenge in her voice.

“You bet” was the only response he gave before walking over to the west side of the meadow. The others nodded and returned their Pokemon, except Hau’s Raichu. Hau had a sinking feeling that his friend would need to keep up a powerful shield for this battle.

The Butterfree in Moon’s stomach returned as she met Gladion’s eyes. She just wanted a little bit of encouragement before taking her place opposite Red.

“You can do this” Gladion told her with a smile. “You are an incredible trainer, and I want you to really show him what you can do.” He gave her a wink and strolled off to stand beside Hau and Lillie.

Moon soaked in Gladion’s praise and felt her lip twitch upwards. She was going to be doing exactly that.

Red wouldn’t know what hit him.

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	5. Chapter 5: Goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Hi there! Here is chapter 5, so that you very much for reading, especially since the writing isn’t exactly awe-inspiring. But, I am still new at this and am working on making things like battle scenes flow smoother and be more enjoyable to read. I have a good outline for the rest of the story, and I expect it to only be about 10 chapters long, unless I decide to continue into other regions. Please review if you have time, I would love to get any sort of feedback. Thank you!

Chapter 5: Goodbyes

Gladion took a deep breath of the warm, salty air of Melemele Island before taking in his surroundings. He stood on top of a smooth, weathered boulder next to Lillie and Hau facing the opening of the Meadow-turned-battlefield where Moon and Red stood on opposing sides. Past them, the opening of Ten Carat Hill Cave was littered with young, baby Pokemon such as Roggenrola, Rockruff, and Diglett while their evolved forms, who Gladion assumed to be their parents, kept close watch on them from a few feet back. Similarly, scattered around the meadow were various Pokemon peeking out of the tall grass and out from behind the boulders, all here to watch the match which was about to take place.

It was like all the pokemon of Ten Carat Hill knew that they were about to be exposed to some seriously powerful Pokemon. While pokemon could grow to be proficient in battling on their own in the wild if they were exposed to the right conditions, such as territory disputes or survival trials, a pokemon that was raised and taught by a competent trainer was significantly stronger. And Gladion had never met anyone more vigorous about battling than Moon, or anyone as commanding as Red, both qualities the pokemon surrounding the battlefield seemed to be able to sense.

While he was excited to watch Moon battle again, he had to admit that he was really interested in finally watching Red in action. At first, Gladion had been wary of him and Blue when they first met yesterday at the celebration for Moon, but the duo had grown on him after spending some time together. Blue was truly a genius when it came to his knowledge on Kanto pokemon, a trait he seemed to inherit from his grandfather, the world-renowned Pokemon Professor-Samuel Oak. Gladion could definitely see Blue following in his grandfather’s footsteps one day, after the arrogance he had acquired from his time as Champion was behind him, of course. He made a mental note to ask Blue for Professor Oak’s phone number before they parted ways, there were plenty of questions Gladion had stored up for the Pokemon Professor that could help him further the research of the Aether Foundation.

Red however, was an enigma. The only thing Gladion could really get off the guy was that he was serious about battling. From what Moon had explained to him, Red had torn through the Indigo Conference the first year of his Pokemon journey, and succeeded the Dragon Master Lance to become the Champion of The Indigo League. Even then, he didn’t want to become complacent in his abilities, so he left the title behind to train in one of the most hostile environments in the world. While he hadn’t been there personally, Gladion had read plenty of books on the dangerous mountain.

He had ready plenty of books on almost every subject, actually. Gladion knew that he would take over the Aether Foundation eventually ever since his father had dreamed up the idea fifteen years ago. Mohn and Lusamine began priming their son on technology, history, biology, the environment, and plenty more so that he would be become the foremost expert on Pokemon Conservation when he was old enough. Not that things worked out exactly as the family had planned, but he still pushed to walk in his father’s footsteps.

A scarlet beam of energy shook Gladion from his thoughts. Hau’s Raichu appeared next to the trio on top of the boulder and gave its trainer a happy cry. Hau motioned for the Mouse Pokemon to take its place next to Blue on the deemed referee spot at the top of the field, and Raichu nodded its head in confirmation before floating over to Blue. Raichu flashed its eyes and light pink psychic barriers appeared around the battlefield before they flickered to be imperceptible.

Blue stepped forward with crossed arms and announced, “This will be a two-on-two battle between Moon, the Current Champion of Alola, and Red, the former Champion of The Indigo League.” He took a second to nod to both competitors before raising and dropping his right arm dramatically.

“Begin!”

Gladion watched as Moon primed her pokeball and tossed it into the air, the scarlet beam of energy revealing Smaug, her fiery Salamance, as her first choice. The dragon gave a mighty roar in challenge to Red, who stared hard back into its eyes. The stoic trainer nodded to the Pikachu on his shoulder and the rodent scampered onto the field in front of Red. Pikachu’s cheeks danced with electric sparks as it prepared for battle.

“Dragon Blast!” he heard Moon shout to her Pokemon, effectively kicking off the match. Smaug roared its head back and flapped its powerful wings to shoot upwards into the sky and began charging energy around its armored body. Red didn’t seem to need to give Pikachu any commands, he trusted his friend and partner to get the job done.

Crimson and silver energy flames wicked around Smaug’s body, indicating the fierce attack was prepared, and the dragon tore through the sky towards its opponent. Before Smaug crashed into Pikachu, the yellow rodent dissipated into nothingness as it raced away with speed Gladion could only hope to comprehend.

Gladion’s eyes widened as he watched Pikachu reappear behind Smaug and let loose an overwhelming amount of electric energy straight into the dragon’s wingspan. The hairs on Gladion’s arms stood straight up and he tasted lead at the tip of his tongue resulting in the sheer amount of electrical energy that filled every pocket of air around the Meadow, even though Raichu’s psychic barriers were still erected.

Smaug was in an absolute uproar. The dragon bellowed in pain as its powerful wings crackled and twisted with thousands of volts of electricity, shooting colossal vortexes of flames from his gaping jaw in every direction to try to out-attack the pain caused by Pikachu. Moon cried out to Smaug to calm down, with no avail. Pikachu took advantage of Smaug’s peril and crashed a frightfully glowing Iron Tail straight into the dragon’s armored neck. The six-hundred pound flying beast was thrown onto its side from the sheer force of the attack, but seemed to regain its senses.

Gladion could visibly see Moon’s sigh of relief as she looked upon Smaug’s clear eyes. The dragon was panting from pain and twitched every now and then from the paralysis it received from Pikachu’s Thunderbolt, but he was up again and ready to fight. Moon drew out a low whistle and a bright blue energy flashed over Smaug’s eyes as it prepared Draco Meter. Flaming meteors barreled out of the sky towards Pikachu, gaining incredible momentum on their way down. Pikachu did not seem the least bit worried, and skillfully danced out the way of every single meteor crashed around it. While the yellow rodent got off scot free, the battlefield certainly did not.

Where each of the meteors had landed, a devastating groan across the earth was felt. The ground split apart from the force of the projectiles, and sharp boulders sprang up in retaliation from the disturbance. Smaug and Pikachu were each braced on top of one of these boulders, staring at each other from across the field. Moon whistled again, this time it was a beautiful high-pitched noise, and her Salamance blasted out a vortex of all consuming white-hot flames towards Pikachu. The yellow rodent dissipated with its mind-boggling speed again and Gladion could only glimpse an orange and white energy flare up around Pikachu before it rammed into Smaug with immeasurable force, sending the dragon straight into the psychic barrier.

The final effects of Pikachu’s Volt Tackle made itself known as Smaug lay completely unconscious on the upturned ground in front of the psychic barrier. Gladion winced as he saw the poor dragon twitch vigorously from the electricity still flowing through its body, and glanced up to see Moon’s face twisted in pain as she returned Smaug in a scarlet beam of energy back to its pokeball to rest.

Gladion couldn’t remember the last time Smaug had lost a battle. While Moon’s entire team was a powerhouse, that Salamance just seemed to be on a whole other level. As it should be, of course. Salamance is considered the apex predator of the Hoenn region, where it was first discovered. The cobalt armored plates covering its body are designed for utmost protection against formidable opponents, and when it pumps its bloodred wings onlookers can feel the sheer power quiver deep within their bones. Their pre-evolution stage, Bagon, are incredibly rare and even harder to train. Their stubbornness and instinct to crash into anything breathing with its bone crusted head takes months, even years to overcome. For Moon to raise and train her Bagon into a Shelgon to a Salamance over the course of a year is phenomenal. She had to earn its respect by showing she was fierce and determined, and she obviously had work for the bond she shared with Smaug.

If Gladion had to guess, this would be the first time Smaug had lost in an outright battle, and he wasn’t sure how the dragon would handle it. He watched as Red called for Pikachu to return, and the yellow rodent raced back off the field to take its place on Red’s shoulder with a small nuzzle against its trainer’s cheek. Red snapped a pokeball from his belt and primed it before tossing it out onto the battlefield, and in a beam of scarlet energy a complete _monster_ of a Charizard appeared before them.

Gladion stood in awe as he looked upon Red’s Charizard. It stood _at least_ nine and a half feet tall, with battle scars ingrained into its deep orangish coat, which was probably as thick as armor. Gladion knew the way to determine a Charizard’s age and power output was the color of its flame, and he wasn’t sure he could comprehend the power behind the bright white and blue blaze on the end of Charizard’s tail. He gave a roar which shook the earth underneath their feet, and Hau had to hold onto Lillie to balance her before she fell off the boulder they were standing on. Gladion definitely didn’t think that anyone would be calling this monster a “pseudo-dragon”, it was probably stronger than most Dragon Pokemon it came across, and he wasn’t sure how the hell Moon would stand against it.

It seemed like she was going to use as much as she could to her advantage when Primarina appeared on the field. Moon had never depended on type advantages in battle, but she was going to need Primarina’s powerful Aqua Jet to take on Red’s Charizard.

Moon drew out a high-pitched whistle from her lips, and Primarina shot a vigorous vortex of water towards Charizard in a matter of seconds. Yet again, Red gave no commands to his Pokemon. Instead, he looked on with an unflinching stare as Charizard intercepted the Aqua Jet with a column of all consuming flames. When the two attacks collided, an explosion rattled the field, and immense amounts of steam flitted into the air. Moon covered his face with her mouth, and in between coughs called out to Primarina to use Moonblast and Psychic.

The Soloist Pokemon cried out in fury with her flippers raised high towards the sky, and began taking power from the hidden moon. Before Primarina could crash the column of violet white energy into the fire type, Charizard smashed a clawed fist with thousands of volts of electricity into Primarina’s side, causing her to fly back a few feet towards Moon. Gladion winced as he saw the red flash of rage in Primarina’s eyes. While Charizard flapped its wings and hovered above the destroyed battlefield, Primarina shot another Aqua Jet furiously quick into its chest, and when the fire type roared in pain, Primarina blasted an Icy storm around Charizard.

It seemed as though Primarina had completely lost her composure, and fired Aqua Jet after Aqua Jet towards Charizard, trying to overwhelm it with the consecutive super-effective attacks. While Gladion couldn’t actually see through the icy crystals that had covered the psychic barriers, he caught a glance of an enormous surge of blueish-white light through the haze.

A second of silence passed before all hell broke loose.

The world was consumed in fire. White hot flames tore through every inch of the battlefield, burning away any trace of ice, and leaving steam fizzing alive in its wake. The psychic barriers trembled as the flames danced around the edges, trying to force its way out. Gladion watched the Meadow Pokemon scatter back into their hiding places before peeking out again once the flames slowly died down.

 He watched as Moon cried out to her unconscious starter, worried lines etched into her beautiful face. Lillie whimpered beside him, and Hau’s jaw had fallen to the ground at the display of power in front of them. Gladion shook his head as recounted Charizard’s special ability revealed itself. When certain fire-types are critically injured, which was no doubt what happened after being bombarded by the super-effective Aqua Jet so many times, their attack power will be increased by 50%. This was evident in the awe-inspiring use of Blast Burn.

Before Red or Moon moved from their spots, Raichu’s eyes flashed again and the psychic barriers dropped around them. The ground shook as the psychic power pushed and folded the boulders and dirt back into its space in the earth. Seconds later, the battlefield was as good as new, except for a couple of cracks in the ground. Gladion wasn’t exactly sure what to say to Moon as the trio approached the battlefield, it wasn’t like he was well versed in comforting people. He didn’t really like being around people in general in the first place.

Moon had her hat pulled over to cover her eyes as she approached the rest of the group, and Gladion swore he could see her lip tremble a bit. She kicked the ground a bit with her white sandals before looking up at Red.

“That was a great battle Red, I can’t believe how strong your Pokemon are…”

He nodded in return, and stepped forward to wrap her in a hug. “Don’t worry Moon. You will get stronger. I’ve been doing this for two more years than you have. Just keep pushing.” Gladion heard Red murmur into Moon’s ear, trying to comfort her.

Hau interjected to put in his own encouragement, “Yeah Moon! I can’t wait to see where you will be in two years! If you are anything like Red my mind will be blown!” he put his hands behind his head and gave her one of his winning smiles.

She gave a small smile back and stepped out of Red’s grasp. Moon nodded and the smile Gladion loved to see was stretched back across her face. “I will be Hau! Red, I hope you keep up the hard work, because my team and I are coming for you!”

Red simply nodded his acceptance of her statement, and turned to Lillie, who seemed to be trembling with worry over Moon’s pokemon. To appease her best friend, Moon handed the two pokeballs over to Lillie and let her work the miracle of medicine on her fallen friends. Red allowed her to take care of Charizard’s pokeball as well, but Pikachu was perfectly healthy and happy resting on his shoulder.

“How about we let these pokemon get back to their lives and head back to the house?” Blue suggested, gesturing to the curious pokemon littered around Ten Carat Hill.

The group nodded their agreement and began the short trek back to Moon’s home. While walking past Professor Kukui’s lab, Gladion noticed Moon fall back behind the rest, and fell in step next to her. Her eyes flickered to him, but continued to stare at the ground in front of her.

“Some battle, huh?” Gladion whistled, trying to break the silence. She simply nodded, not offering a response.

“You did great you know. Primarina must have really done a lot of damage to Charizard for its Blaze ability to kick in.” he added again, this time knocking his shoulder against hers. She stumbled a bit, and finally turned those cerulean eyes back to his.

“You think so? I’ve never met anybody so strong. I had no idea.” Moon seemed to grow nervous again and move her gaze back towards the ground.

“You bet! And I don’t think any of us were prepared for that. We have to get a cabin up on Mt. Silver or something, I want to see just how rigorous this training ground is.” He replied absentmindedly. It took him a second to notice that Moon was frozen in her tracks a few feet behind him. Gladion turned back around and silently questioned why she looked to be in shock.

“W-we..?” she managed to stammer out, not able to look him in the eyes again. This time it was his turn to freeze, acutely conscious of his previous statement, and the implications that could be construed.

“Uhh..” he started nervously before shaking it off with a cough and straightening his posture. “Yes. It would be a great training experience for the both of us.”

Her eyes seemed to lose a bit of their light before nodding and taking off again, this time at a much quicker pace.

Before she could further than a couple of feet, he called out to her, “Wait, Moon.” She turned around and looked him straight in the eye, her previous nervousness completely gone.

“I was wondering,” he began with a hand behind his head, “if you would like to go out with me once things calm down a little. Like on a date.” Gladion’s breath caught as he realized he finally mustered up the courage to do what he had planned on at the ceremony yesterday. He didn’t breathe again until he saw her slowly nod her head and give him one of those smiles he always loved to see.

“I would like that very much, Gladion. Now let’s catch up to the others.” She replied with a giddy laugh and took his hand before breaking out into a run towards her friends.

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Moon basked in the incredible warmth of the Alolan sun as her and her friends stretched out across towels that laid on top of the silky white sand of Hau’oli Beach. Since the group’s pokemon were out of their pokeballs playing around in the ocean or in the sand, they had the entire beach to themselves. People just seemed to give powerful pokemon a wide berth for some reason. She was so perfectly content in soaking up as much sun as was possible for the next few hours. It had been five days since the tournament, and time had really flown by.

The mornings normally consisted of a homemade breakfast from Moon’s mother, followed by training sessions. Red and Blue would alternate between Hau, Gladion, and Moon so that everyone had a chance to improve their abilities. Lillie would be available to heal any of their Pokemon if needed, but she stuck close to Hau wherever he happened to be training. Their developing relationship interested Moon, even though it didn’t really surprise her.

Hau had always been fond of Lillie, ever since the day she was attacked by the rampant Spearow. Back then, her timidness disabled her from really making a human connection with anyone besides Moon. Yeah, Hau was always nice to her, but they didn’t start forming a real connection until Moon and Hau set off on their Pokemon journey, starting with the Alolan Trials. When Moon made it known that she was interested in traveling alone so that she could develop stronger bonds with her pokemon, Lillie decided to travel alongside Hau.

With Hau as the main protector of Nebby, the nickname given to the pre-evolved form of Moon’s Lunala, Lillie really began to open up and trust the overenergetic boy. Since then, the two were extremely close friends. When the information surrounding Lillie’s family came to light, that friendship took an interesting turn. Instead of just being friends, Hau became very protective over Lillie. It was like something in Hau clicked when he realized what kind of life Lillie had before she met the two of them.

Now Lillie was leaving tomorrow to travel to Kanto to help her mother, and Moon could practically feel the tension rolling off her two friends. She wanted to interfere and tell them to just be honest about their feelings, but it wasn’t her place. They would handle Lillie’s leaving the way they wanted to.

After a morning of training, the group of friends would have lunch and explore Alola’s islands a little bit. Red seemed privy to the small towns, such as Paniola Town, with few people to disturb them, while Blue seemed particularly fond of the tour Gladion gave them of the Aether Foundation.  While Moon had already been around the Aether Foundation, she looked upon the man-made island with new eyes.

Instead of the garden where Lusamine had summoned Ultra Beasts from a different dimension for the first time, she could now see it as the place where Gladion would go to think on new ways to help people and Pokemon alike. Instead of the basement where so many lives were lost, Moon now saw a booming facility where pokemon roamed freely and were loved on by the researchers assigned to them.

Things had changed for the better, and Moon shivered in excitement as she thought about all the possibilities.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Blue’s PokeNav rang. While it wasn’t infused with a pokemon like Rotom, it was incredibly complex with all the different upgrades Blue had inserted. Blue propped up on his elbows and clicked “answer.”

“Yo, Gramps! How’s it going?” Blue grinned towards the screen. Moon’s ears pricked up in interest and she abandoned her spot next to Gladion to crash next to her old friend.

“Professor Oak? Hi!” The old professor’s chocolate brown eyes crinkled up in a smile as he looked upon the duo.

“Ah, hello Moon! Congratulations on becoming Champion. It is quite the accomplishment. It seems as though the three kids from Pallet town have really had a good showing.” In Moon’s eyes, the old Professor hadn’t aged a day in the past three and a half years since she last saw him. His voice was still as spirited as ever, and she warmed at the memories of her, Red, and Blue playing in the Professor’s Corral.

“Yeah yeah, we are all awesome.” Blue interjected with a roll of his eyes. “What’s up Gramps-ow!” Blue winced as he held the now bright red spot on his forehead where Moon flicked him for his rudeness.

“Well since you asked so _kindly_ Blue, I have a request for you and Red.” At the mention of his name, Red stood up from his spot opposite Moon and came into view of the Professor’s screen.

“Ah Red, you are looking mighty tan. As for that request, I would like for you and Blue to head to the newly founded Battle Tree located on Poni Island. The creator of the Battle Tree put in a request to the Indigo League to send you two to work with the trainers there to grow stronger. Due to recent events, Alola is wanting to up its security, which means they need more powerful trainers.” The Pokemon Professor explained.

Blue thought about the request for a second. “When do we need to head over to the Battle Tree?”

“Tomorrow. I know that cuts into your vacation time with Moon, but since it is an official request to the Indigo League, I couldn’t quite tell them no.”

Red sighed and gave Moon an apologetic smile. “That’s okay Professor. We will be there. Thanks.” Blue nodded his acceptance as well.

“Very well. Thank you for your cooperation, and try to enjoy your last free day for a while. Wonderful to see you again Moon. Take care!” With that, the screen shut off and Blue folded the PokeNav back into his bag.

“I’m sorry we won’t get to spend more time with you Moon, duty calls” he told her with a shrug. She nodded and wrapped her arms around each of the boys’ neck.  

“Hey, I’m just happy I got to see you both for a few days. It was an awesome surprise.” Moon regarded the two of them sincerely. “Thank you for that.”

Gladion, Hau, and Liile all stood up from their places on the beach and made their way to the trio.

“And it was really great meeting you guys as well. I’m happy Moon was able to make some friends after she left Pallet.” Blue motioned towards the rest of the group with a smile.

“You bet! We are lucky to have met you guys!” Hau responded with a giant grin on his face and his hands relaxing behind his head.

Moon stood up and began dusting the sand off her towel. “Since you two must leave for the Battle Tree tomorrow, and Lillie heads off to Kanto in the morning, let’s celebrate with one more night around the campfire.”

Gladion stepped up next to Moon and placed his hand on the small of her back, sending fiery tingles up her spine, and she tried not to tense up at the unexpected contact. “That’s a great idea, Moon. The sun will start setting soon, so we should have plenty of time.” Gladion had been more comfortable around her ever since he asked her on the date, but she was still adjusting to the attention.

The rest of the group nodded and began packing up their things as well, though she caught Lillie stifling a laugh out of the corner of her eye. She sent a heated glare in her best friend’s direction before returning her Pokemon.

After about an hour, the Alolan sun dipped just below the horizon as the group of trainers-and Lillie walked into Moon’s house. Moon’s mother seemed to be out and about somewhere, but she had left the ingredients for S’mores and a cooler of drinks on the kitchen table at the request of Moon. The group changed out of their beach attire and set to work to prepare for the night. Red and Blue took to their old duties and stepped into the garage to grab six lawn chairs to bring outback. Lillie and Hau headed to the kitchen to grab the food and drinks, while Moon and Gladion got to work on getting firewood to place in the firepit.

When a fire was roaring in front of them, and their makeshift campsite was set up, the group settled into their chairs and waited for Hau, who had yet to appear from the house. When he stepped out from behind the backdoor, Moon raised an eyebrow at his curious mischievous smile.

Lillie cocked her head to the side in confusion, “What’s up Hau?” His smile grew wider as he pulled something from behind his back. He held up a tall, frosted bottle with a picture of icy blue mountains with a few Wingull flying over them. Blue shot up out of his chair and snatched the bottle out of Hau’s hands.

“Where did you find this bottle of Vodka?” he asked with narrowed eyes. Hau just threw his hands up in protest as Moon shot him a dirty look.

“Well, I just happened to be rummaging around the freezer, and found this baby. Since its our last night, I was going to suggest we have a little bit of fun” He placed his hands back behind his head with his mischievous grin again.

Moon was about to object when Lillie jumped up out of her chair and exclaimed, “I’m in!” Moon’s jaw dropped as she stared at her timid best friend. The girl just shrugged her shoulders at Moon and flashed her a sheepish smile.

“I’m about to move to Kanto for a while with my _mother_. Might as well try it while I still have the chance...”

Moon looked over at Gladion for some support, and found him sharing a nod with Red. “Wait, you all want to try this?” she gestured to the deceivingly innocent bottle. They all flashed a pleading smile at her and she relented a sigh.

“Fine…but at least let me get some cranberry juice from the fridge. That is not going to go down smooth.”

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................

 Moon’s eyes fluttered open when the bright sunlight traveled through her blinds and hit her face. She felt weirdly groggy and had a splitting headache as she attempted to sit up in bed, and winced at the movement. Ugh, why in the world did she feel so crappy? She moved to lay back down, but froze when a figure next to her groaned underneath the sheets.

Her slight sickness forgotten, Moon bolted out of bed across the room, with one of her pokeballs at the ready. Her shoulders relaxed when she saw Lillie throw off the covers to her bed and stare at her in wild confusion, her blonde hair sticking outwards in every direction.

“Moon, what are you doing in my room?” she asked with narrowed eyes.

“Your room? You mean my room?” Moon corrected, gesturing wildly at the space around her.

Lillie’s eyes widened as she took in her surroundings. “What in the world…OH. I remember.” Moon winced at the sudden increase in her tone. That headache was still bothering her.

“If I remember correctly, we all had a little bit too much to drink. The boys especially…they seemed to think they could handle their liquor.” She remembered with a smirk.

“Hau was the first to lose it, typical. Then Gladion.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Those two decided to take the guest bedrooms, and left Red and Blue on the couch, and me with no place to sleep! We all tried to wake them up to get at least one of them to move downstairs, but Hau and Gladion were out like a light. You and I eventually gave up and came to sleep in here.”

Moon nodded as the memories began flooding back to her.

It had been a seriously fun night. While the group of friends didn’t need the alcohol to have fun, it was certainly an interesting experience. After a few Vodka Cranberries crafted by Blue, they started to feel the bubbling sensation others had always told them about. While Moon didn’t particularly enjoy the feeling, she couldn’t keep from giggling like an idiot anytime one of her friends said anything remotely humorous. Her face flushed as she remembered Gladion working up the courage to sling his arm around her shoulder, and keep it there the rest of the night.

“OH.MY.GOSH.” Lillie’s exasperation snapped Moon out of her thoughts. “I just remembered. Hau kissed me last night.”

Moon started and flew back to the bed. “What? What happened?” she pleaded for details. Yes, Moon had grown up around boys, but this whole actually being attracted to them was really new for her. Thankfully Lillie was going through the same thing, so the two girls had bonded over their respective innocence. Now Lillie had taken the first step a real relationship! Moon was so happy her friend had her first kiss!

“Y-yeah! You, Gladion, and Red were inside grabbing more food, or drinks, or something, and Hau did something that upset me, though I can’t remember what…”

Moon motioned for her to continue, eyes peeled on her best friend, who wriggled under the attention.

“Hau kept trying to cheer me up, and I guess the alcohol had made me a little emotional, because I wasn’t having it. Blue just laughed at the two of us and said, ‘Why don’t you two just kiss and make up?’”

Moon silently scolded Blue for being so forward.

“And SO HE DID. He just took my face in his hands and KISSED me.” She remembered with a dreamy look in her eye. Moon squealed and took her friends hand in hers. “That’s so great!” she beamed in congratulations.

Realization swept across her eyes, and Lillie’s entire face fell. “I’m leaving today…I won’t get to see Hau..or you..for quite some time..” she mumbled sadly.

“No no, none of that!” Moon snapped, shaking her friend out of her momentary moon. “You and Hau finally kissed! That means that you don’t have to leave here wondering how he feels about you! You will be back, and sooner that you know it too. He will be waiting for you.”

That speech seemed to brighten Lillie up, “You think so?” Moon nodded and wrapped her friend in a tight hug. Man, she was really going to miss Lillie.

“Let’s go downstairs, the boys might already be awake. Lillie perked up at that and the two girls walked downstairs in their pajamas. The aroma of bacon and eggs swept across the house towards the girls and they flew into the kitchen. As expected, the four boys were already waiting for them, although they looked a little ragged. It appeared they had not gotten off scot free of last night’s effects either. Moon’s mother was humming happily in the kitchen and completely oblivious to the going-ons of last night.

Lillie took her seat next to Hau, and Moon took her spot at the head of the table, with Red on her left and Gladion on her right. The blonde-haired boy shot her a wink that made her heart flutter before thanking Moon’s mother for the wonderful breakfast. The rest of the group gave their praises and patiently waited for the food to be set in front of them. Before the plates even left her hand, the boys had already taken their portions and began devouring them.

Lillie and Moon snickered at their friends display, but went ahead and took their own portions, although in a more sophisticated manner. When the group finished their breakfast, they took turns showering and getting ready in the bathrooms. After everyone had washed off the griminess they felt after last night, they sat back down at the dining room table and sat there for a moment.

“Red, Blue, I am so happy you decided to come to Alola. I am sorry you have to leave Melemele Island so soon, but you will be doing great work at the Battle Tree! And I’m sure you will love Poni Island. You are always welcome to visit!” Moon’s mother squeezed the two boys’ shoulders before turning her gaze to Lillie. “And Lillie, you know to never be a stranger. It is going to be quiet around here without you.” At that, both Moon and Hau felt the pang of sadness as they prepared for their friend to leave them.

The group took their turns giving Moon’s mother a hug goodbye, and walked out the front door. Once they were outside, Red and Blue turned towards the rest of the group to say their goodbyes.

“It was really great to meet you all, and I’m glad that we have some new friends in Alola.” Blue started, and began shaking the others’ hands.

Red nodded his agreement and added, “If you ever need anything from us, just give us a call. We will never be too far away, until we head back to Kanto at least.”

Once the boys said their goodbyes to Hau, Lillie, and Gladion, they wrapped Moon in a bone-crushing hug.

“We missed you Moon. Don’t forget to come see us every once in a while.” Blue muttered. She nodded and stepped back as Blue released Alakazam and Red released his monstrous Charizard.

Lillie giggled at the Pokemon, “I can’t imagine not having Ride Pokemon from the pager. Kanto will be a big change for me.”

“Don’t worry Lillie, you will just need to depend on the power of your own team to get you places, rather than calling for help. It helps you develop a closer bond with your Pokemon.” Red explained. Moon sighed as she remembered the vast differences between Alola and the rest of the world.

“Remember, if anything happens, you call us immediately.” Blue turned to Moon with a serious expression. This was the side of the Champion of the Indigo League she never really got to see.

“Don’t worry, we will. Hopefully when I call, it will be for better circumstances though.” She shot Blue a wink and the group waved to the two boys from Pallet. With a flash of its eyes, Alakazam crossed its two spoons and slipped its trainer seamlessly into nothingness.

Red shook his head at the display in front of him. “I’ve never been one for teleportation. I’d much rather rely on Charizard here.” His friend responded with a happy roar and spit out a rather powerful Flamethrower towards the sky to show off a bit. Charizard bent down so that its trainer could climb on its back, and made sure he was safely secure before pounding its powerful wings. Red gave a quick wave goodbye before clinging onto the fire-types neck for dear life.

Moon sighed as she realized that in a blink of an eye, both of her old friends from Pallet town were gone. She shook off her sadness and looped her arm through Lillie’s. “Time to get you down to the marina, we don’t want you to miss your boat!”

Hau took Lillie’s free hand into his own and gave her a soft smile. “Yeah, your next adventure is just around the corner!” She returned his smile and flashed it towards her brother as well. With that, they set off towards Hau’oli City.

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Moon couldn’t help the tears that escaped from the corner of her eyes as she waved goodbye to her best friend. Lillie stood at the stern of the ocean liner as it left port, frantically waving one hand towards her friends while clutching the railing tightly with the other. While boats weren’t exactly scary, Lillie had never ventured on something so big before.

Moon remembered how big Lillie’s eyes had gotten when she first saw the 500-foot cruise ship. The bottom half was a simple charcoal color lined with two rows of windows. The top half was a pristine white that reached up to two more decks. From the boardwalk they could see two massive swimming pools with curved waterslides decorating the top of the ship. Thanks to the funds of the Aether Foundation, Lillie would definitely be traveling in style.

It would take the ship about two and a half weeks to reach Vermillion City, where the gym leader, Lt. Surge, had agreed to accompany Lillie and Lusamime to Cerulean City. While Blue had originally asked the stubborn former war hero for his assistance, he didn’t really give in until Red called Surge himself. It was extremely difficult to command the respect of Surge, and Blue didn’t quite have it yet.

“Bye Lillie! Don’t forget to call!” Hau shouted after his blonde...friend? Girlfriend? Moon would have to ask about that later. The overenergetic boy was jumping up in down, waving both hands in the air like a maniac.

“Dude, she’s gone.” Gladion rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Hau sighed and slumped his shoulders forward in acceptance. Moon could relate to what he was probably feeling, she felt particularly hollow now that her friend was headed off to her old homeland. The days of relaxing with her two best friends on their pokemon journey were now over.

The lone trio watched the ship until it vanished in a glare from the bright morning sun. They shuffled over to a carved, wooden bench and sat down in silence. Moon and Gladion on one side, and Hau on the other. Somehow it just didn’t feel right without Lillie.

Gladion was the first one to finally speak up. “Hey, its going to be okay guys. Lillie is going to get the best care for Lusamine, and then she is going to start her own Pokemon journey. We all did it, and it changed our lives forever. Just imagine all the new experiences Lillie will find in Kanto. We should all be happy for her, not sad.” He placed his hand on top of Moon’s and squeezed for comfort.

Moon saw the truth in his words and returned a warm smile. “You are right. Lillie is going to have the time of her life, and then we will get to see her again.”

“Hey Hau, just imagine, when she gets back you can actually battle her!” That got Hau’s attention. He perked up and seemed to get lost in the thought.

“That would be awesome!” He exclaimed and stood up on his side of the bench, “Look out Lillie! We are going to have an awesome battle when you come home!”

Moon was happy to see her first friend in Alola get some of his spunk back. It just wasn’t natural to see the boy upset. She placed her chin in her left hand and thought about what possibilities life could hold from here.

It had been a week since she claimed the title as Champion of Alola, and her little vacation would be coming to a close. On Monday, she would report to the top of Mt. Lanakila where Professor Kukui, along with the members of the Elite Four, would explain to her the duties of her position. She imagined they included the aftermath of the Ultra Beast fiasco, training and appointing new Island Kahunas (she already had one in mind), and overall developing a plan to protect their region from future attacks. And of course, smashing any challenger who managed to make it past all the Elite Four to bits. She had a title to protect after all.  

Gladion would return to the Aether Foundation to continue his training. While he was brilliant enough to take over more quickly, Gladion wanted to wait at least six months before officially accepting the esteemed position. He wanted to have his hand in every branch of the Aether Foundation and make sure every ounce of corruption was eradicated. Once he was absolutely sure the company he would inherit was as clean as a whistle, then he would march in full force with all of his new ideas and plans. Ms. Wick was a valuable asset to the company, and would be sure to prepare him into a fine president. Gladion had just turned eighteen after all, the Aether Foundation was his to take.

A sudden change in brightness snapped Moon out of her thoughts. She narrowed her eyes as the brilliant light from the Alola sun darkened, casting a frigid shadow across the land. The people walking around Hau’oli City stopped in their tracks and looked up curiously towards the sky.

And then, just as quickly as it appeared, the darkness vanished. Moon had to squint to continue looking up at the sky. There was no trace of the strange event that just occurred, and if Moon didn’t know any better, she would have thought she imagined it.

“What was that?” she asked the two boys, who looked just as confused as she did.

“I don’t know, but I don’t have a good feeling about it.” Gladion murmured with narrowed eyes. The trio stood on edge for a few minutes before Hau shook it off and placed his two hands behind his head.

“I’m sure it was just some kind of eclipse or something, let’s go get some Malasadas for lunch! All of this goodbye stuff has me starving!” With that, the overenergetic boy took off from his position on the bench and sprinted towards the restaurant in the city. Moon and Gladion shared a concerned look but followed behind Hau.

Something dangerous was coming, Moon could feel it in her bones. She would investigate on Monday, but for now she would share lunch with her two remaining friends.

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**Note: Thanks for reading! I tried to change up the writing a little bit with this chapter, so hopefully it flowed a little better. If you have time, let me know what you think.**

**Thanks**


	6. Chapter 6: The League

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Happy New Year everyone! The holidays are my favorite time of the year, so I’m sad that they’re over for a while. Anyway, here is Chapter 6! I did a little explaining in this chapter on how some of the Kahunas became part of the Elite Four, where they live, etc. I know this topic is a little controversial, but I just tried to be creative on what I thought made sense. If you don’t agree, sorry, but this is just one story. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

After Alola

Chapter 6: The League

Moon blinked away the faint blotches that flickered throughout her vision from staring too long into the bright Alolan sun as it slowly rose over the Ruins of Conflict. As she sat on the dew-covered ground, she focused her attention towards the colors painted in the sky while absentmindedly stroking Marowak’s forehead. The duo was entranced by the scattered light that seemed to melt into an array of whites, light blues, pinks, and yellows. Little by little, the sun fully revealed itself against the ribbons of blue sky, and Moon had to shield her eyes yet again.

She took a swig of water from her bottle and stuffed it back into her pearl-white messenger bag. Moon nodded to her friend and stood up from the spot her and Marowak had occupied for the last twenty minutes or so. They needed a little rest from the hike up to the Ruins of Conflict, and she had timed it perfectly, so they could watch the sunrise on their break.

Today was a big day. At noon, she would report to the Pokemon League at the top of Mt. Lanakila to begin her first official day as the Pokemon Champion of Alola. Originally, she was supposed to meet Professor Kukui there at nine o’clock in the morning, but she had a few important things to do before she could begin her work.

The four guardian deities were well known throughout the Alola region, and Moon was surprised at just how much the folk lore and stories were ingrained into the culture when she moved here from Kanto. While her father had read her bedtime stories of the great Legendary Birds of her home region, she had never actually seen them before, let alone met anyone who had. In Alola however, a great power guarded each island, and the citizens recognized and worshipped the Tapu Pokemon for their protection.

Before she could officially accept her title, Moon decided that she needed to pay her respects to each of the guardian deities. The first, of course, being Tapu Koko. She owed this guardian her life, so she wanted to visit it first.

And so, she hiked towards the entrance of the Ruins of Conflict with an overwhelming flutter of nerves in her stomach. Sure, Tapu Koko had deemed her worthy of her Sparkling Stone, which was refined into her Z-Ring, but would the Pokemon be proud of the paths she took? Disappointed?

Moon paused at the entrance of the Ruins and thought back to their first meeting. The day Moon turned thirteen, she and Lillie had taken Nebby out to visit the Ruins of Conflict to test out a theory. Lillie seemed to think Nebby was connected to the Ruins in some way. However, as soon as the Ruins were in sight, Nebby took off excitedly across the wooden bridge which would bring them to their destination. Before they could follow their cloud-covered friend, three or four Spearow did not take kindly to the intrusion, and began attacking Nebby. At this point in time, Lillie was still petrified of Spearow after the encounter which led to her meeting Moon and Hau, and was frozen in place.

Moon placed an encouraging hand on her friend’s arm and reassured her that she was going to take care of Nebby. She slowly made her way across the wooden bridge, pausing only to find her balance a few times when the rusty planks shook with her weight. When Moon finally reached Nebby, her heart wrenched for the poor creature. The Spearow were relentless in their attacks. Nebby’s galaxy-like cloud body was covered in scratches, and the Spearow would take turns raking Nebby with their razor-sharp claws. They retreated for a second when Moon shouted at them to back off, but as soon as she covered Nebby with her body, the Spearow began their attacks again.

She remembered the trembling of the small creature, a sharp cry, and a blinding light of power that overtook Moon, the Spearow, and the bridge holding them up. Moon didn’t even have time to register falling to her death, because when she opened her eyes, she was back on solid ground next to an extremely worried-looking Lillie.

Tapu Koko saved her life that day, and left behind the Sparkling Stone that allowed her to bond with her Pokemon on an entirely different level.

Moon felt a slight tug at her jacket sleeve and looked down to see Marowak checking to see if she was okay. “Don’t worry, I just got lost in thought. Let’s go in.” she reassured her friend with a bright smile.

With that, she stepped into the Ruins of Conflict and immediately felt a warm rush flow throughout her body. The bright chamber was lined with rows of flames which brushed a welcoming light over the dark stone walls. Her nerves melted away as she made her way up the stairs to the magnificent shrine. Bright Yellow Hibiscus and beautiful Birds of Paradise flowers were colorfully arranged around the shrine, which made it feel alive. Both Moon and Marowak gave a low, respectful bow before slowly dropping to their knees.

Moon rummaged through her bag to pull out a dazzling yellow shard that had an image of Tapu Koko etched into it. Throughout her Alola Trials, Moon had relentlessly searched for shards which she thought best reflected the power and beauty of each Island Deity, and used her tools to pencil in a likeness of each one. While she didn’t know she would be returning as Champion, she knew she would pay her respects at the end of her Trials.

She carefully placed the shard in the middle of the flowers, so they could compliment each other, and bowed her head.

“Tapu Koko, thank you for saving my life sixteen months ago. Your kindness and desire to protect the inhabitants of Melemele Island is the reason I am here today. I pray that I can grow into a strong leader who is respected, but also takes great care to respect others. I pray that I can work alongside you and the other guardians to protect this region. As Champion, each battle fought on Mt. Lanakila will be dedicated to the four of you.”

Moon paused for a second to collect her thoughts and take a deep breath. “I also wish to give thanks for your kindness in granting Professor Kukui’s request those many months ago. He came to you and Tapu Lele to ask that Kahuna Hala and Kahuna Olivia continue on to serve in the Elite Four. Their leadership and wisdom helped create a Pokemon League which will one day rival the Leagues of the other regions.”

“With your permission, I would like to recommend an interim-Kahuna for Melemele Island until you are prepared to choose a successor.”

As she drew out her request, a fierce wind broke into the cavern and startled her. She looked around in confusion before her eyes focused on a being hovering above the shrine. Moon examined the creature before giving a low bow. On its sides were two immense shields decorated to look like a fierce yellow bird. Reaching out above its slight black body was an array of orange and yellow fur. She met the beast’s ancient eyes as she rose and waited.

Tapu Koko suddenly cried out, and another breeze filled the chamber, except this time it was gentle and warm. She let the pleasant wind wrap around her body, and sighed when it fell away. Moon felt her confidence returning to her as she spoke.

“Kahuna Hala is a fine man in many ways. As a leader, trainer, and as a grandfather. He raised Hau to be one of the most incredible people I have ever met. His love of Pokemon runs deep, and his devotion to his family and friends inspires those around him. I think he would serve as a wonderful Interim-Kahuna.”

Silence.

For the next thirty seconds, that confidence she felt began to slowly slip away and she could feel beads of sweat begin to accumulate around her forehead. Was her gut feeling incorrect? Was she wrong to come here? Was she foolish for coming to speak to this guardian?

Tapu Koko’s eyes bored into her, and she felt a rush of relief as it finally gave a swift nod of its head. The warm breeze returned and washed away the nagging insecurities that lingered in the back of her mind. The breeze suddenly escalated into the frenzied wind which caused her to cover her eyes with her forearm. She wrapped her free arm around Marowak and pulled her friend in close to her body.

As quickly as the wind appeared, it died again. The tension Moon held in her shoulders relaxed, and she glanced around the chamber to find it empty again. While the flames lining the dark stone walls still burned brightly, the warm feeling she had grown to appreciate was no longer present. Tapu Koko was gone.

Moon took a second to balance herself before giving another bow of respect to the shrine, and waited for Markowak to do the same before heading down the stairs and towards the entrance. When she stepped outside, she had to shield her eyes once again to protect them from the intense Alola sun which now shone brightly in the sky, completely free of any cloud cover. Moon checked her watch, which now read ‘7:55,’ meaning she had been in the Ruins for a little less than an hour.

She walked a little distance from the entrance and sat back down in the spot she claimed as her own earlier this morning. “It looks like Tapu Koko approved of our suggestion to bring Hau in as Interim-Kahuna buddy.” Her bipedal friend gave her a bright smile and a thumbs up in response.

“Well next Smaug can take us to the Ruins of Life on Akala Island to _hopefully_ talk to Tapu Lele about Kahuna Olivia, and request Mallow to serve as Interim-Kahuna. After that we can fly to The Ruins of Abundance in the Haina Desert and The Ruins of Hope on Poni Island to give thanks to Tapu Bulu and Tapu Fini.”

With a finalized plan, Moon stood up from her grassy spot and pulled Smaug’s pokeball from her belt and rubbed a finger over the glossy surface. She took great pride in cleaning her friends’ pokeballs until they had a nice shine to them as part of her every-day routine. Moon primed the contraption and faced it towards a large enough empty space before pressing the middle button.

A single beam of scarlet energy materialized into the form of her faithful dragon, who gave a happy roar when it saw Moon. She spent a few seconds scratching Smaug’s armored plates until she heard a low rumble escape its throat.

“Goodmorning! We are going to be doing a lot of flying this morning, alright? We are on a schedule.” Smaug nodded its understanding and lowered its wings so Moon could climb on its back. Moon returned Marowak and gave Smaug a light pat on its neck to indicate she was ready, and the dragon took off in a whirlwind towards Akala Island.

They had a busy day ahead of them.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Bye honey! I can’t wait to hear how your first day went!”

“Thanks Mom! See you tonight!”

Moon stepped out of her home and closed the door behind her. After her morning of visiting the different ruins, she desperately needed a cold shower and some food. There was no way she could show up at Mt. Lanakila with all the dirt and grime she accumulated on her face.

Her visits had been a great success. Tapu Lele accepted her request of bringing Mallow in as Interim-Kahuna for Akala Island, though she didn’t know how long it would last before the Island Deity chose a successor. And while she didn’t get to meet Tapu Bulu or Tapu Fini in person, she got the feeling they approved of her offering. Moon might not be an Alola native, but she had deep roots that connected her to this region, and the guardians seemed to accept that.

Now she was newly refreshed and ready to take on the day. Moon released Smaug and climbed onto her dragon’s back before taking off like a rocket towards her destination.

As they touched down at the top of the mountain, Moon was relieved that she remembered to put on her jacket. While it was the middle of July, Mt. Lanakila reached so high that there was constant snowfall around the top half of the mountain. A slight shiver tingled down her spine as she returned Smaug after giving her dragon a few pokebeans as a thank-you for flying her around Alola this morning.

Her vision wasn’t affected by the light snowfall, so she was clearly able to make out a man waiting for her by the doors of the Pokemon League, which were guarded by two stoic-looking League officials.

 Of course, Professor Kukui wore his usual attire and _refused_ to wear a shirt, even when the weather was less than agreeable. He raised a hand up to catch her attention, and she jogged straight past him towards the entrance and attempted to flash a smile, although her face hurt from the movement. She gave a nod to the League officials, and made it through the automated doors before jumping up and down to warm herself up.

“Hey there Miss Moon! You are really going to have to get used to this weather. The climate doesn’t exactly change up on the mountain!” Professor Kukui jested, slapping a large hand on Moon’s back.

She simply nodded her response and tried to warm her hands up by alternating between rubbing them together and sticking them inside her jacket pockets. Professor Kukui patiently waited for Moon to join him in the foyer, and after a few seconds of bouncing on the balls of her feet, Moon’s body finally reached its normal resting temperature.

Professor Kukui stopped in front of another set of doors and placed his right hand on a scanner beside them. After a few seconds, Moon heard a small ‘ping’ and the doors opened slowly. They stepped inside, and Moon felt a wave of nostalgia.

She took a minute to admire the chamber, the Professor really did a magnificent job when designing the place. The walkway they were on was lined with teal blue stone, with solid iron lining the edges. Her eyes followed the walkway as it opened into an enormous platform directly in the center of the room, which had four separate walkways diverting in separate directions. In the center of the platform was a stunning design of rainbow lights filling the stone in a circular pattern.

Each of the four separate walkways led to a new chamber, where she would find the battlefield designed for each of the Elite Four members. Moon’s eyes found the walls of the area, which was the most beautiful part of the room in her opinion. Eclipsing black rocks filled every crevice of space along the walls, which only aided the handsome sapphire stones ingrained within the rock to catch the onlooker’s eye quicker. She knew that she would find different colored stones inside each of the Elite Four’s battlefield chambers, and her heart gave an excited flutter remembering she could now see them whenever she wished.

She joined Professor Kukui on the center platform and glanced up at him expectantly.

“Are you ready to begin your first official day as Champion?” Kukui asked.

“You bet Professor! Where do we start?” Moon hummed her acceptance as they stepped into the familiar rainbow platform, and light enveloped them. When she opened her eyes, they were back on the battlefield resting at the peak of Mt. Lanakila. Professor Kukui took a small device out of his coat pocket and pressed the red button.

“Today will mostly be about getting you caught up on your duties. The real work will begin soon enough.” He answered as he led her across the battlefield.

Moon recognized the opening that appeared at the top of the field, and followed him down the spiral staircase. When they reached the bottom, Moon silently cheered when she found each of the Elite Four members lounging around on the arranged furniture.

Acerola brightened when she noticed Moon, and hopped up from her position to give her a tight hug. “Moon! Moon! Congratulations! We are going to have so much fun here!”

Moon laughed and hugged the younger girl back, digging her right cheek into Acerola’s purple hair. “You bet! I’m really excited!” She released Acerola and went to give a hug to Hala and Oliva as well. The three welcomed her with open arms and she felt right at home as she sat down on the couch next to Olivia.

Well, almost. Kahili eyed her warily, but rose to shake her hand nonetheless. Kahili made Moon nervous, even though she seemed nice enough. She was once Alola’s island challenge champion, and one of Professor Kukui’s top students. Kahili was also the daughter of the Hano Grand Resort’s owner, which might explain why Moon felt a little uneasy around her.

Moon knew it was silly, but thinking about the Hano Grand Resort reminded her that the resort had ties to the Aether Foundation. Although they probably didn’t have any idea of any going-ons, she couldn’t help but wonder if they had any information that could have prevented some of the awful things that happened there.

Regardless, she gave Kahili a small smile and returned her handshake. She couldn’t let her own prejudices get in the way of getting to know one of her new partners here at the League.

“Its great to be here with you all. Now please, catch me up to speed!” Moon insisted. 

Professor Kukui passed around a few cups of coffee and took a spot on the opposite couch next to Acerola.

“Well now that everybody is comfortable, let’s get started.”

“Moon, now that you are officially Champion, you will be in tasked with leading the force of protecting Alola from threats. That includes a variety of things, such as the Ultra Beast situation or sinister organizations such as Team Skull. We won’t go into too much of that today, but later in the week I will introduce you to a team we have procured to assist in those types of threats.”

Moon nodded her understanding and gestured for Professor Kukui to continue. “Another responsibility of serving as Champion is to work in tandem with the other regions to keep the peace and encourage innovation. Your ties to Kanto and its major protectors already puts Alola in a wonderful position. Your friends, Red and Blue, have helped leaps and bounds at the Battle Tree on Poni Island by training the people there.”

He turned his attention to the rest of the Elite Four. “Moon and I have visited the group various times over the past week to track their progress, and have been very impressed with their improvement. I’m sad to say the Champion and former Champion will be required to return to Kanto at the end of the week.” They nodded in return and Professor Kukui directed himself back towards Moon.

“While your ties to Kanto are extremely helpful, I would like to extend your reach towards other regions as well. Hoenn and Unova, possibly. Now, do you have any questions or concerns for your responsibilities up to this point?”

Moon took a second to collect her thoughts before responding. “I actually have a few ideas that I would like to run by you all. My friend, Red, served as the Champion of the Indigo League before giving up his position to Blue. He didn’t believe he was being challenged enough, which means he wasn’t improving as a trainer. I think atrophy is a very real issue within Pokemon Leagues, and I would like to avoid it.”

“While everyone here is certainly a gifted trainer, I don’t want us to become complacent. I think every morning, maybe from eight to eleven, we should take the time to train our Pokemon. We can help each other to continue to grow stronger and keep moving forward.” Moon paused to see how her suggestion was received.

Hala burst out in a hefty laugh after a few moments of quiet. “That is a great idea Moon! We can’t let ourselves become careless, especially when we have a region to protect!” The other smiled brightly and nodded their agreement.

“It is a good idea. We can discuss the details of your training later this week as well.” Professor Kukui shot her a thumbs-up, and she felt a rush of pride rise in her chest.

Moon would be lying to herself if she said she hadn’t been nervous to take over the duties of Champion. She had watched Blue and Red do it for a little over three years now, but she wasn’t sure if she had what it takes. But now, sitting here with the rest of her team, she wasn’t nervous anymore.

She was Moon Skyrah of Pallet Town, and she was born for this.

“I also had an idea that could bring a scientific crowd to Alola.” Professor Kukui raised his eyebrow in interest but let her continue.

“Gladion will be taking over as President of the Aether Foundation in a few months, and I think he will do amazing things there. Obviously, the Foundation has the resources to undertake a number of research experiments, but I think it would be beneficial to bring in researches from other regions to work with our people. I’m sure Gladion would agree with me on this.”

“I like it! One of my associates, Professor Birch, specializes in Pokemon habitats and distribution. I’m sure that he would be interested in learning about the regional variances of Pokemon common in different regions.” Professor Kukui began stroking his goatee with his right hand, seemingly lost in thought, before snapping his fingers and startling the group around him.

“Ah! Yes, I think that is a great idea indeed! Now what about….”

The group exchanged ideas like that for the next few hours. At around five o’clock, Professor Kukui gave a large sigh, slapped his hands on his knees, and rose from his spot on the couch. He stretched for a second before addressing the group.

“I think we can put off the rest of our discussions until tomorrow, don’t you? Moon, why don’t I show you your quarters. While you are not required to stay here at the League, your room will be available to you anytime you need it.”

“Sounds great Professor!” Moon pushed herself off her spot and stretched for a few seconds as well. They really should have taken a few breaks to walk around or something.

Moon gave a small wave to her new teammates, and followed Professor Kukui through a door to the right of the small kitchen.

She couldn’t help but let out a gasp as she stepped into the bright room. The maple flooring stretched across about 700 square feet of bedroom space, if she had to guess. The furniture was sparse, making the room look enormous.

To her right was a large antiqued turquoise dresser with clear crystal knobs for each drawer. On top was the framed picture Moon took with her Pokemon after defeating Professor Kukui to become Champion. She noted that there was still plenty of space to place her other favorite pictures to personalize it a little bit. Next to the dresser was a small closet, which was perfect because Moon liked to pack light.

In the middle of the room was an extremely large star-shaped rug with an ocean pattern laid across. She desperately wanted to take off her shoes to see if the rug was as comfortable as it looked, but didn’t think now would be an appropriate time. To the left of the rug, up against the wall, was a king-sized four-poster bed with an ivory canopy. The comforter was a stark-white, with a few small turquoise throw pillows on top. It wasn’t hard to guess what the theme of the room was…

Next to the bed was an antiqued white nightstand with a small blue lamp intended to shine just enough light to read a book. An opening leading to a nice sized bathroom lay to the right of the nightstand, which drew her eyes to the main attraction of the room.

Instead of a wall, a massive window filled the space between the wall her bed was pressed up against and the wall her dresser and closet occupied. The window explained why the entire room was so bright, despite there being no lights on. She had no idea how in the world they dug out the space for something like this inside of the mountain, or how reinforced the window must be to keep out the elements, but she wasn’t complaining.

Her view was breathtaking. There was still light snowfall outside, but she could clearly see Akala Island below her, connected by a glittering sea. If she strained her eyes, she could make out the shape of Melemele Island to the northwest of Akala Island. The sun was showing signs of setting, and Moon decided she wanted to spend lot of time in this room, if only to watch the sunset every evening.

“Its quite nice, isn’t it?” Professor Kukui chuckled softly, noticing Moon’s faraway look.

“Its…. more beautiful than I imagined. I can’t believe this is my room.” She mumbled, still entranced by the magnificent view.

“While there isn’t a lot furniture, there is plenty of space for your Pokemon, besides Lunala. I’ll leave you for now, let me know when you choose to return home. I will be in the living room.” With that, Professor Kukui closed the door behind him and she was alone.

Moon took a deep breath to appreciate the view one more time, and unclipped five of the pokeballs from her belt and released her Pokemon.

Marowak, Primarina, Vikavolt, Smaug, and Dugtrio appeared before her, and chittered happily towards their trainer.

“Hi everybody! This is our new room. While we won’t be staying here every night, I wanted you to get accustomed to it. Go ahead and find a comfortable you would like to claim as your own. There is plenty of space!” All her Pokemon, especially Primarina, seemed ecstatic at the news. While they were traveling on the road, she could spend almost every night sleeping next to her Pokemon. Now, since returning home, there simply was not enough room.

She would take turns letting Marowak, Vikavolt, and Primarina sleep on the bed with her, but none of her other Pokemon would be comfortable in her room. Moon felt safe and secure with her friends beside her, and she hated leaving anybody out. While Lunala would feel cramped inside this space, she made a mental note to let her out every night, so she could stretch her wings at Mt. Lanakila’s peak.

Smaug immediately made its way to the comfortable looking rug and plopped down facing the window, seemingly extremely content with the view. Dugtrio opted to stay resting on the maple floor near the foot of the bed. While she wasn’t exactly sure how Dugtrio could detach and re-attach itself to the flooring, she was just happy her friend was comfortable.

Marowak, Vikavolt, and Primarina all decided they would take the bed, which was fine because the bed was certainly big enough. They were careful to leave a space for Moon, which wasn’t very large because she never moved in her sleep. Marowak took its position curled up right next to Moon’s space, and Primarina stretched out along the full length of the left side of the bed. She seemed perfectly content, and let out a gleeful cry. Vikavolt settled at the foot of her bed and snuggled into the comforter.

When all her friends were settled into their spots, Moon took her place on the bed and rested her eyes for a moment. She needed to get back home to tell her mom all about her day, but she just wanted to take a second to relax.

Moon ran through all of the conversations from the day, and made a mental note to call Gladion later and discuss some possibilities with the Aether Foundation with him. A flutter of butterfree danced around in her stomach as she thought of Gladion. He was in full swing of preparing to take his position as President, but he still took the time to talk to her every day. Whether it was a text message, phone call, or a random visit on the Ride Charizard, he always let her know that he was thinking about her.

Only a week had passed since he asked her on the date, but the timing never seemed to be right to actually follow through on it. She knew it would happen soon, but for now she would just be patient. Before she let herself dive deeper into her own head, Moon forced herself up.

“Alright guys, let’s head on home. Mom would kill me if I didn’t tell her about my first day as Champion.” Her friends all rose from their spots, and she recalled them one by one, letting Smaug know he would be coming back out soon.

She made sure the room looked just as it did when she entered, and stepped through the door to the living room. Professor Kukui was sitting on the couch with a notepad and pencil in his hands.

“Hey Professor, busy at work?” she questioned.

“No, no. Just writing down more ideas for your job as Champion.” He looked up from his notepad and shot her a wink. “Are you ready to head home?”

Moon nodded and readjusted her messenger bag. “Yes sir, I think my Mom is cooking dinner for me tonight. Special occasion and all.”

“Then I hope you have a great night, and we will see you here in the morning.” He tipped his cap to her and went back to his notepad.

Moon smiled back and made her way up the spiral staircase and onto the battlefield. She released Smaug and handed him a few pokebeans.

“Come on buddy, let’s go home.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

As Moon stepped through her doorway, she was bombarded by a very energetic Hau.

“How did it go? Did you get a cool suite? Did you learn any League secrets?” She decided Hau no longer had control of his mouth, so she quickly slapped her hand over it and peeked around him to see Gladion and her mother patiently waiting in the living room.

“It was great, yes I did, and if I told you, I would have to kill you.” Moon told him with a wink and removed her hand from his mouth. She reached her mom for a quick hug, and turned her attention to Gladion.

“I-I didn’t know that you would be here.” She muttered shyly, forcing herself to break eye contact before staring too long into his emerald eyes.

He chuckled, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around her. “There’s no way I was going to miss this.” He whispered before releasing her.

Before the familiar blush could creep across her cheeks, Moon’s mother saved the day. “How about we have some dinner, and you can tell us about your day sweetie?” Moon sighed in relief and took her place at the kitchen table.

While her mother distributed the Spaghetti, Moon’s mind wandered back to the feeling of Gladion’s arms around her, thinking that he really is stronger than he looked. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and began recounting her time at the Pokemon League.

“We went over the responsibilities I inherited, and discussed ideas on how to improve security around Alola, among other things. It was a little overwhelming, but I think I will be able to handle it with some time.”

“Of course you will sweetie, I have no doubt about it.” Her mother praised with a warm smile.

“Yeah Moon! You are going to rock it! I bet you will learn so much from the Elite Four members! Especially from my grandpa!” Hau chimes in after a bite and placed his hands behind his head. “Just remember little ol’ me while you are out protecting Alola!”

A knowing smile formed across Moon’s face in response to Hau. He raised a confused eyebrow at her. “What? Do I have something in my teeth?” he asked, grabbing a toothpick from the kitchen counter.

“No Hau, you don’t have anything in your teeth-well, actually you do. But that’s not what I’m smiling about. I was going to tell you this tomorrow, but since you are here, I might as well do it now.” Moon stood up from her seat, and placed both hands on the table as she looked across the table at her friend.

“Hau, since Hala has been chosen to serve as a member of the Elite Four, Tapu Koko has given its blessing for you to act as Interm-Kahuna of Melemele Island.”

Moon’s overenergetic friend’s eyes widen, and he just blinks in response. A few seconds of silence pass by, and Moon tilted her head in confusion. She wasn’t used to quiet Hau, and it was unsettling.

“Well, Hau? What do you think?” she questioned, trying to break the tension. It seemed to snap Hau out of his trance, and he shakes his head, as if trying to clear his thoughts. Hau stood up warily from his seat at the table, and met Moon’s eyes.

“Champion Moon, I would be honored to accept this position for as long as Tapu Koko would have me. Thank you for the opportunity. I will not disappoint you.” He gave her a low bow, and it was Moon’s turn to be shocked silent.

“Y-you’re welcome Hau. I have no doubt that you will do a great job.” Moon finally sputter out. After a second of staring at each other, Moon and Hau couldn’t help it anymore-they each broke out into a fit of laughter. Their laughter was infectious, and before they knew it, Gladion and Moon’s mother were chuckling as well.

After wiping a tear from her left eye, Moon finally calmed down. “Who would have guessed that we would’ve made it here when we began our journey…”

With that, they all finished their dinner and helped wash and put away the dishes. As Hau placed the last pot back into the cabinet, he turned to Moon’s mother. “Mrs. Skyrah, thank you so much for dinner. It was delicious-as always.”

“Thank you Hau, and congratulations on the position. You kids have a great night!” She flashed Moon a wink, and headed upstairs.

_Hmm, that was weird_ , Moon thought.

Moon almost missed it, but she could feel anxiety in the room rise as her mother left. She glanced back her guests to see if they noticed anything. Gladion had his hands in his pockets, and was staring hard at Hau, who just placed his hands behind his head.

“Well, that would be my cue to leave. I’m going to go see Hala tomorrow to see if he has any advice for me.” He hastily waved his goodbye to Moon and Gladion, and turned on his heel. He was out the door in three seconds flat.

“…um, bye I guess…” Moon mumbled to the slammed door. She turned to Gladion, “what was that about?”

His hands were still in his pockets, and he seemed to be mustering up the courage for something. She could feel the anxiety in the room again, which meant she found her source. “Wait, what’s wrong?”

“N-nothings wrong! I just have a surprise for you, and I’m not sure how you will like it…” he muttered shyly. Moon blinked, Gladion had a surprise for her? And he’s nervous about it?

Before a million possibilities could bombard her mind, she asked, “What is it?” Gladion seemed to find his resolve, and met her eyes with confidence.

“Well, if I told you, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise, would it?”

She couldn’t help but smile at that. “Very true.”

He held out his hand for her, and she took it without hesitation. Whatever it was, she knew she would love it.

Without a word, Gladion led her through the doorway and out into the warm Alola night. Outside Moon’s house, a single lamppost shone dimly, and the wild Pokemon were quiet. Gladion gently tugged on her hand, and began walking towards Ten Carat Hill.

“Gladion, where are we going?” she whispered, feeling as though that was the appropriate level her voice should be at. He simply placed a finger towards his lips, indicating for her to stay quiet. They continued towards Professor Kukui’s lab for about five minutes, and Moon took the opportunity to enjoy it. The stars seemed to glitter in the sky, complimenting the bright moon that hung above them. The temperature was perfect, not too warm, but not too cool. She let herself get lost in her surroundings, but stayed attuned to the boy walking beside her.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gladion allowed himself peek down at the girl walking beside him, and his heart constricted as he did. The moon’s light softly illuminated her tanned face, and he could barely make out those bright cerulean eyes beneath her long lashes. They were focused on their surroundings, taking everything in. He wanted to ask what she was thinking, but he kept quiet and focused on the route in front of them.

After a few minutes, they reached the ledge which would lead them down towards their destination. Moon started towards it, but Gladion held out a hand to stop her. She looked at him in confusion, but didn’t break his “no-talking” rule. Gladion reached into his pocket and pulled out a black bandana. He gave her a soft smile as he rolled it up into a blindfold.

He hoped she would go along with it, because as soon as they jumped over the ledge, his surprise would be ruined. She nodded, closed her eyes, and turned around for him. Gladion could feel his heart leap to his throat as he placed the bandana over her eyes, and tied it behind her head. Standing this close, he noticed she smelled like strawberries, and tried to commit the scent to memory. He took a few deep breathes to prepare himself for this, and bent down to pick her up in one fluid motion.

She squealed in surprise, but immediately slapped her hand over her mouth to quiet herself. Gladion could see her excited smile underneath her hand, and felt ten feet tall as he held her in his arms. She was surprisingly light, and he relished the feeling of her arms wrapped around his neck.

His surprise had taken some careful planning and navigating. As much as he disliked relying on other people, he knew he could trust Hau and Kukui to set this up correctly, simply because it was for Moon. He passed the Professor’s lab and turned the corner. He took a deep breath and set Moon down on a small patch of grass before they reached the beach.

Moon started to go for her bandana, but Gladion stopped her hands and held them tightly, indicating that she needed to wait. He dropped down his knee, and untied her shoes. He tapped her left foot, waited for her to hold onto him for balance, and slipped off her shoe and sock, and repeated with the right foot. He rose and placed her shoes along the grass and kicked off his own next to hers. When he returned to Moon, she was lightly bouncing on the balls of her feet. He smiled and grasped her hand again and led her onto the cool sand.

Moon sucked in air as she felt the change in terrain, but quickly relaxed. After a few more steps, Gladion finally began untying her bandana. He just hoped she liked what she would see…

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

_FINALLY_ , Moon thought to herself. She was dying to know where Gladion was leading her, and after he tied the bandana over her eyes, the excitement had slowly begun to eat at her. When Gladion lifted the bandana, she took a sharp intake of breath at the sight in front of her.

From where they were standing, an aisle of least two hundred ivory candles burned brightly on either side of them, lighting the way across the sand to a mahogany wooden table intimately set for two. Three single candles stood in the middle of two silver platters, and a bouquet of red roses rested on table. The moon seemed to hang just above the table, creating a luminescent effect. With every incoming wave, a swell of shimmering tealights were deposited, making for a stunning backdrop.

Perfect. That was the word she immediately used to describe the setup before her. She couldn’t believe Gladion did something like this for her. She certainly didn’t deserve anything this special. When she looked up at him, he was already gazing down at her. His eyes were bright with hope, but seemed to be weighed down with nerves. Did he think she wouldn’t like this? Was he crazy?

“Gladion, I-I..I love it. This is incredible.” She could hear him audibly sigh with relief and gave his hand a squeeze. “I can’t believe you did this.”

“I really wanted to surprise you. You started your first day as Champion of the Pokemon League today, so I figured it would be a good way to celebrate…you know...you. Come on.” He led her though the aisle of candles and pulled out one of the chairs for her to sit. Her heart fluttered at the chivalrous gesture, and she accepted the seat. Before sitting down himself, he walked over to the side of the table and offered her the roses. “These are for you.”

“They are so beautiful, thank you very much.” She tipped her nose into the bouquet and inhaled deeply. They smelled heavenly, and Gladion had gotten them for _her_! He did all of this for _her_! Moon swore she could fly with how light she was feeling. He took back the flowers and placed them on the table before grasping the lid on each of the silver platters. He looked up at her expectantly, “Are you ready?”

She nodded with glee, and he removed the lids to reveal a giant chocolate chip cookie covered with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge. Her eyes widened considerably, “Oh my goodness, this looks so good..” He handed her a spoon and then took one of his own.

“Are you ready? I make a mean chocolate chip cookie.” He asked with a coy smile, causing her right eyebrow to lift to the challenge.

“Oh, I’m ready whenever you are.” She replied with a wink, and dug into her dessert.

Perfect. Wait-she had already used that word to describe the set up. Oh well, the word worked perfectly for the dessert to. It was so warm and gooey, but with the chilled ice cream seeping down through the cracks. Gladion wasn’t lying when he said he makes a mean chocolate chip cookie.

In between bites, she attempted to memorize every detail about her date. This was definitely something she wanted to remember down the road.

He interrupted her thoughts with a question, “So, how are you feeling with all of the new responsibility you’ve taken on?”

“Honestly, a lot better than I thought I would. I knew what to expect after talking with Red and Blue, so I had a little time to prepare myself. But, it’s all still new to me. There is so much work to be done, it’s a little overwhelming.” She conceded.

“Actually…I was hoping that you would be able to help me adjust. With you stepping in as President of the Aether Foundation, I figured you would have some advice on leadership. I also wanted to ask if the League could work together with the Foundation on a few projects.”

Gladion seemed surprised at her request, but didn’t hesitate in his answer. “I think that is a great idea. The Aether Foundation can use all the help we can get, especially from talented trainers, such as those in the Pokemon League. And on the leadership qualities, I think I will have to wait to give any advice until I officially take the position. You should be the one giving me advice, if anything.” He shot her a wink that caused the heat to rise to her face.

“Then I look forward to working with you on future endeavors, Mr. Gladion.” She replied with a smirk of her own. “Enough about work though, if this is supposed to be our first date, maybe we can learn a little more about each other..”

Gladion nodded his agreement. “I think that’s a great suggestion. Let’s see…I already know that blue is your favorite color…what about your favorite Pokemon that is not currently on your team right now?”

Moon thought about it for a second, and replied “I have always been a fan of Ninetales, the ones found outside of Alola. They are normally a fire type pokemon, with ghostly attributes, which makes them so fascinating. Ninetales can live for centuries, and I haven’t met anyone who truly understands why they are so connected to the spirit world.”

“Hmm, interesting. We take care of an Alolan Vulpix back at the foundation. I wonder how she would interact with a Vulpix from someplace like Kanto. Would they be compatible? When they evolved, would they each gain the ghostly attributes you mentioned?” Gladion responded thoughtfully, with his chin resting on his knuckles.

Moon smiled at his curious nature. “I think that would be a very interesting study. You have to let me know if you decide to indulge in more research. Okay, how about you? What is your favorite Pokemon, outside your own team?”

“Krookodile.” He expressed without any hesitation. “When I was younger, my dad would read Lillie and I books about Pokemon from different regions. Unova was always the region which interested me the most, and to a kid, a whole evolutionary line that looked like they rocked sunglasses was so cool.”

Moon started in surprise, Gladion _never_ talked about his father, except for the time he was trying to explain to her why his mother had gone completely insane trying to open Ultra Wormholes. All she knew about the elusive man was that he was the foremost expert on Ultra Beasts, and was convinced there was a way to study them in person. The lab portion of the Aether Foundation is filled with books written by him, she had just never had a chance to pick one up.

“You don’t talk about your father very much. What was he like?” she asked a little shyly, hoping he would be up for talking about it.

Gladion sighed. “It’s not something I like to dwell on, but he was a good man. He loved my family, and created the Aether Foundation from scratch. He loved his research, and made sure that I knew exactly what was going on every step of the way, so that I could take over one day. After he disappeared, it was hard to find passion in the research that was going on. I became disinterested, so my mother began research projects without me…which you know how well that turned out.”

He buried his face in his hands before continuing. “I feel like I turned my back on the Foundation when my father disappeared, and look what happened. So many Pokemon were hurt, because my mother completely lost her shit. I could have prevented all of it.”

Moon reached across the table and pulled one of Gladion’s hands away from his face. “Hey, it’s okay. You didn’t turn your back on the Foundation. You needed to go on a journey with your own Pokemon, and have your own experiences, before you could be ready to take on the challenge of the Presidency. Do you really think you could have stopped your mother, with no pokemon of your own to fight alongside?”

He thought for a second and shrugged. “I guess not. Everything seems to happen for a reason. If I hadn’t ran away from home with Type: Null, I would have never met you.” Gladion gave her hand a squeeze and continued to look her in the eyes.

She blushed in response and tried to hold his eye contact, but broke it after a few seconds. “Anyway…what is your favorite film of all time?” She asked, trying to change the heavy moon in the air.

He sighed again in relief at the change of subject and responded, “Now that, is a great question. I would have to say…”

The two continued like that for another hour and a half. Moon was shocked at how much she learned about Gladion, and just how much she was willing to share with him. She couldn’t remember the last time she ever had this much fun just talking to someone one on one, besides with Lillie and Hau. But, this was so different than any of those conversations. During their back and forth, Gladion would run this thumb over her knuckles, and compliment her every now and then. Moon wasn’t used to this much attention from a boy, especially a very handsome boy, but she knew this was exactly what she wanted.

After a while, Moon’s eyes started to droop, and she couldn’t help herself from yawning. Gladion just chuckled at her drowsiness, and stood up to take her hand. “I think its time to get you home. You have a very exhausting week ahead of you.”

She shook her head, “No, I’m having such a lovely time. Besides, who will clean up around here?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already got that taken care of. Come on, let me walk you home.” Moon let Gladion pull her up and lead her away from their table on the beach. He really knew how to make a first date special. She snuggled into Gladion as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and enjoyed the closeness to him for the remainder of the walk home.

Moon sighed as they reached her front door, knowing the date was over. She met his eyes and caught a glimpse of something different in them as she thanked him for such an incredible evening. Before she could dwell on it, he gave her a sweet smile.

“You are very welcome Moon, I had a wonderful time.” He pulled her in for a tight hug, and she felt herself tense up as she thought about what might happen next. Moon had never been on an actual date before, let alone kissed a boy. She had no idea what to do? Did Gladion? That was a silly question, of course he did. He was eighteen and about to be the President of his own company. He knew what he was doing.

Before her inner rant could continue, she released her and leaned down to give her a soft kiss on her cheek. Moon felt all the tension in her body dissipate as his lips touched her face. She shouldn’t be nervous, this was what she wanted.

Gladion pulled away and his emerald eyes met her own, and before she could react, he wrapped a strong hand around the back of her neck and brought her face to his own. Moon took a sharp intake of breath as their lips touched, and she couldn’t believe how soft his were. Her hands seemed to have a mind of their own, and ran their way up towards his neck, and wrapped around so they she had a better handle on him. Gladion’s other hand responded by grasping her hip and her closer to him.

For a few seconds, Moon let herself get completely lost in the kiss. Far too soon, Gladion released her and both of them were breathing hard. He leaned in for another kiss on the cheek, and said his goodbyes.

“I’ll see you soon okay? Goodnight Moon.”

Moon leaned against her porch for support and watched her date call out a Kadabra and teleport away from her. She let out the breath she was holding and found herself grinning like a maniac. Moon let herself into the house, and thanked Arceus that her mother was nowhere to be found.

She snuck upstairs to her room and landed softly on her bed, squealing like an excited Tepig. Moon immediately called Lillie, and prayed for her best friend to answer, despite the time difference.

“Moon? Is everything okay?” Moon sighed in relief and proceeded to tell her best friend every detail about her night.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….............

“Well Moon, you certainly look happy and ready to take on the day!” Professor Kukui observed as she entered the living room at the foot of the spiral staircase inside the Pokemon League.

Moon just smiled happily in response. _You bet I’m ready Professor_. She thought back on how perfect her night turned out to be, and felt the familiar blush creep across her face as she remembered her first kiss. But she cleared her head and forced herself to be focused on the tasks at hand today.

The Elite Four members were in their usual spots on the arranged furniture, and smiled kindly to her. However, her eyes focused on four newcomers standing off to the side. They were dressed in strange suits, and their tense demeanor made her nervous. They each had a helmet with a strange blue film covering their face. She could made out that two of them were women, and the other two were men, with one being the obvious leader. The girls were shorter, with one sporting blaring orange hair wrapped in a braid, while the other had carefully combed blue hair. One of the men stood completely still, with only a single strand of pink hair peeking out beneath his helmet. The leader stood in front, twirling a blue mustache that matched the taller girl.

Moon had come across some strange people here in Alola, but these four took the cake. Professor Kukui followed her gaze and stood up to explain. “Ah Moon, I would like for you to meet the Ultra Recon Squad. They came to Alola from beyond one of the Ultra Wormholes opened during the Ultra Beast crisis.

The leader stepped forward, followed by the three squad members and they all mirrored a strange hand greeting. “Pleased to meet you Champion Moon. I am Psycho, leader of the Ultra Recon Squad. This here is Dulse, Zossie, and Soliera.” He gestured behind him.

Moon gave a bow in respect, and responded, “I am pleased to meet you as well.” Professor Kukui stepped up after the introductions were made and gestured for them to take the conversation to one of the couches. Moon, Zossie, and Soliera took the open seats while Dulse, Psycho, and Professor Kukui continued standing.

“The Ultra Recon Squad is not from our world. They come from Ultra Megalopolis. Moon, while you were battling the Nihilego that bonded itself to Lusamine, there was an even greater crisis happening in another world.” Professor Kukui began.

Moon took in the new information, and nodded for him to continue. Psycho took over, “I believe there were reports here last week indicating a strange incident involving the light of Alola?”

“Uh yeah, while we were on Melemele Island, the Sun seemed to darken suddenly, then after a second, it was like it never happened.” Moon responded, now completely engrossed in a possible explanation.

“Ultra Megalopolis was just like Alola once. Bright, sunny, and lively. A powerful Pokemon originating from another world, which we call the Prism Pokemon, needs energy to survive. It gets this energy from light, and without it, impurities build up in and on it, which causes Necrozma to darken and stop moving. Necrozma came to our world in search of energy, and found it. It completely devoured the light of Ultra Megalopolis, and once it had its fill, it fell into a deep sleep. I put together the Ultra Recon Squad to travel to different worlds and find a way to stop Necrozma. I fear it is only a matter of time before it begins searching for a new energy source…” Psycho trailed off, lost in thought.

“Alola…you mean that a super-powered Pokemon could come here and try to take the light from Alola?” Moon stammered, unbelieving.

Professor Kukui nodded grimly. “That is exactly what we are saying Moon. Now that you are Champion, you can be involved in research into Necrozma, and we can all work together to try to figure out a way to stop it.”

Moon considered this for a few seconds, and stood up with her arms crossed. “Okay, we can do this. We haven’t come across a problem that we couldn’t solve yet. Professor Kukui, why don’t you, Psycho, and Soliera get in touch with the Aether Foundation and do some research. You can work to put together a report on everything we know about Ultra Megalopolis, Ultra Wormholes, and Necrozma. Gladion will be happy to help. Dulse and Zossie can work with us and we can exchange battle strategy. I assume you have already tried to confront the beast?” she asked, turning her attention to the squad.

They nodded their response, but allowed Psycho to answer for them. “I find these suggestions reasonable. The more information we exchange, the better. Maybe, with your help, we can return the light to our world.”

Professor Kukui crossed his arms and met Moon’s eyes. “I think that is a great idea Moon. However, with you being the Champion, I want you to have your hand in everything. In the meantime, why don’t you let Olivia and Kahili take Dulse and Zossie for a tour of the League, so that you can focus on your next task? I have something else I need you to work on.”

“Sounds great Professor, where do you need me?” She asked, giving a wave to Olivia and Kahili as they led our new guests up the spiral staircase. 

“Do you remember yesterday when we discussed the possibility of bringing over researchers from other regions to Alola?” Moon nodded her response.

“Well, I called my good friend, Professor Birch, and he thought it was a great idea. He is going to send his son, Brendan, and one of his assistants, May, here to Alola at the end of the week. I need you to fly to The Aether Foundation and talk to the lab there. Together I bet you and Gladion can decide on a proper proposal for us to research. I will meet you there with our other guests at the end of the day, and we can talk about furthering our research into the Ultra beasts.”

_I hope the League has plenty of space for all of the newcomers,_ Moon thought to herself. She knew that she would need some time to think through everything she just learned, but was pretty excited to meet the duo from Hoenn. Moon promised herself to take it all in stride, and focus on one thing at a time.

“You got it Professor. I will see you at the Aether Foundation.” She nodded towards Kukui, Psycho, and Soliera and made her way up the spiral staircase. Moon knew Hala and Acerola would look after the League while everyone was busy, so she wasn’t worried.

Once outside, she released Smaug and directed her dragon to the man-made island. When they touched down, Miss Wick was waiting for her by the docks.

“Goodmorning Champion Moon. Professor Kukui sent word to expect you. What can I help you with today?” The purple-haired woman had a warm glow about her which always made Moon feel welcome.

“I’m here to see Gladion ma’am.” Moon responded with a small bow. “I would like to discuss a few research options with him.”

Miss Wick fidgeted with her glasses at the sign of respect, but nodded and let Moon towards the platform elevator. “Master Gladion will be downstairs in Lab Area B reading a few reports. Please let me know if you need anything.” With that, she slid her key card through the reader for Moon and stepped off.

Once downstairs, Moon made her way through a pair of double doors which led to the Lab Areas. She found the one she was looking for and gave a swift knock.

“Miss Wick, I asked not to be disturbed while I am working down here.” She could hear Gladion’s annoyed voice through the heavy doors.

“Uhh…its me actually. Sorry, I didn’t mean to-“ Before Moon could finish her sentence, the door was flung open. Gladion stood with a huge grin plastered across his face and stepped aside so Moon could come in. She smiled back and let herself into the room.

“Sorry about that, I was just doing some reading on possible future projects. How are you?” he asked, bringing her in for a hug and planting a swift kiss on her cheek. Moon tried to control the flush she felt on her face, but couldn’t contain her joy at his welcome.

“That’s okay, I didn’t mean to disturb you.” She coughed and straightened before continuing. “Actually, I am here on official League business.”

One of Gladion’s eyebrows rose in interest. “Sounds interesting. Let’s hear it.”

Moon sat down at one of the comfortable looking white leather chairs and prepared her speech while Gladion took the seat across from her. “The League members and myself had a discussion yesterday about possibly bringing in researchers from other regions to help assist with projects here in Alola. This could be beneficial in generating innovation and creativity, and we could use the outside expertise. Professor Kukui was able to convince Professor Birch to send two researchers from Hoenn to come to Alola. They should arrive on Friday. I wanted to discuss where we might place them, and what possible projects we could work with them on.”

Gladion stroked his chin in thought before answering. “I love the idea of working with researchers from other regions. We could really use their insight. I will confer with the Administrators on what projects we could assign. We also have plenty of space here at the Aether Foundation, so you wouldn’t need to consider housing for them.”

Moon grinned. She knew Gladion would come through for her. “That’s great Gladion, thank you!”

“No, thank you. This will be a great opportunity. Let me call Miss Wick and have her set up a meeting with the Administrators and we can talk more in depth about this.” He stood up and strode over towards a phone connected to the wall, and pressed a small grey button.

“Yes, Master Gladion?” a disembodied voice asked.

“Please arrange a meeting in thirty minutes with the Admins. Thank you.” Gladion addressed.

“10-4.” Miss Wick’s voice answered.

Gladion turned back to Moon, “Did you want to discuss anything else before the meeting?”

Moon coughed nervously before answering. “Actually, there was…I met some interesting people today…”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………........ 

Moon crashed onto her bed with a sigh.

What. A. Day.

After bringing Gladion up to speed, they had a two-hour long meeting with his admins discussing every possible research proposition that they could work with May and Brendan on, before voting on the best one. They finally decided on an in-depth study on the regional variances of Alolan Pokemon found around the world. Moon was tasked with delivering the report to Professor Kukui, so that he could contact Professor Birch to ask for the group of selected pokemon to be transferred over.

After that, they went straight into a three-hour meeting with the admins, Professor Kukui, and the Ultra Recon Squad discussing the appropriate way to move forward with the possible threat from Necrozma. Moon had never been in one conference room for so long in her entire life, and vowed to never do it again. She definitely wasn’t cut out for those kinds of meetings.

Gladion, on the other hand, was completely in his element. He was calm, bright, and the very definition of a leader. He still had a few months before taking over as the official Aether Foundation president, but after today, Moon knew that he was born for this job.

Once they had come to a conclusion and the meeting was dismissed, Gladion had brought Moon back to the mansion and cooked her dinner. She couldn’t imagine that he enjoyed staying in such a large space by himself, so she was more than happy to keep him company for a little while.

Once it was time to turn in, Moon wanted to spend some time with her Pokemon, so she returned to the Pokemon League. Once she was there, Moon had released Lunala to stretch its wings and offered it plenty of pokebeans before retiring to her room. She stayed up for another hour or so hanging out with her remaining team members before crashing on her giant four-poster bed.

Moon cuddled up next to Marowak and Primarina, and drifted off to sleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….........................................................

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: There is Chapter 6! To be honest, I’m pretty excited for the rest of the story. In the next chapter, there will be a six month jump somewhere to help move the story along. Please let me know what you thought through a review or PM. I would love your feedback. I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year!


	7. Chapter 7: The Ceremony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Hi everyone! Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy. I do not own Pokemon.

**After Alola**

**Chapter 7: The Ceremony**

 

 “Faster, Faster!” The teenage boy cried out to the Tauros underneath him, who was panting hard as it bobbed and weaved with incredible speed, trying to evade its pursuer. Unfortunately, the attempt was futile.

With a well-placed Fire Blast, the Tauros was knocked off its course and onto its side, throwing the boy fifteen feet from the crash site. Luckily, he was wearing the necessary protective gear, preventing him from breaking multiple bones.

“Congratulations Mikey, you lasted a whole thirty seconds longer than the sixteen trainers before you.” Blue praised the teenage boy, offering a hand to help him up. He couldn’t help the twitch that tug at the corner of his mouth as the boy groaned in pain. _Improvement hurts, get used to it kid_.

“Did you have to hit us so hard?” The boy complained as he went to check on his Pokemon, who was slowly regaining his balance on all four limbs.

Blue rolled his eyes at that. “Tauros will be fine. Arcanine is the king of control. In fact, you should be thanking my Pokemon for _only_ knocking your bull to the ground.” At the mention of its name, Arcanine happily bounded over to the crash site, planting a slobbery kiss across Blue’s face.

“Dude, gross.” He sneered, and took the sleeve of the whining kid to wipe his face.

Blue could safely say that he was ready to go back home to Kanto. While being in Alola had been kick-ass because him and Red got to spend time with Moon, he missed the colder climate of his home region. He didn’t mind the heat while he was enjoying the beach with his friends, but intense training under the Alolan sun was something he was looking forward to kissing goodbye.

Gramps called on Monday to let him know that he and Red were needed back home at the end of the week, something about the stirrings of a certain old organization that Blue thought was dead and buried. Blue was disappointed that he and Red didn’t get as much time training the Battle Tree recruits as he wished, but they had really worked overtime to try to prepare them as much as they could.

Every morning at seven o’clock, Red’s monster of a Charizard acted as the world’s scariest alarm clock and all fifty of the recruits would stumble outside, releasing their Pokemon. Red and Blue would divide them up randomly and focus on particular aspects of training, such as speed, strength, focus, etc., then the groups would switch after lunch. After a thirty-minute break after dinner, the recruits would reconvene for a two-hour training period of offense and defense with limited visibility. While it was a grueling time, Blue was happy to report a dramatic increase in the recruit’s abilities.

While he knew none of them could hold a flame to a Champion-level team, they were all on the right path towards improvement. After training with Red and Blue, he wouldn’t be surprised if the recruits could give even Sabrina a run for her money. As he thought it, Blue felt a painful tug within his mind, and immediately kicked himself. _I meant they could give Blaine, or Surge a run for their money. Blaine or Surge_. The presence seemed content with his response, and left him alone.

 _Looking forward to seeing you too, dear_. He mused to himself.

“Blue! Earth to Blue!” A familiar voice shook him from his mental conversation, and he turned to see a pair of bright cerulean eyes staring back into his.

 

XX

 

“Moon!” Blue cheered, wrapping Moon into a tight hug. She laughed at his clearing eyes, and knew that he was probably communicating with Sabrina somehow. Moon had always heard that she was one of the most powerful Psychics in the world, and couldn’t wait to meet her one day. She also suspected that Blue was one of the only people whose iron will could stand up against Sabrina. They probably balanced each out well.

“It’s great to see you! I’m really sad to hear that you and Red will be leaving today.” Moon couldn’t keep the disappointment out of her voice. Blue and Red had done wonders for the Battle Tree recruits while she was trying to settle into her role as Champion, and she was going to miss having their help, as well as their company.

“Aw, don’t be upset Moon! We will see each other again soon, and it will be your turn to come visit Kanto!” Blue countered, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “I’m almost done with the Speed Evaluations, why don’t you go check on Red and I will meet you inside for some lunch? He should be finishing up with the Strength Evaluations.” Moon nodded her agreement, and left Blue alone to finish torturing the recruits.

She made her way around to the other side of the Battle Tree, enjoying the view along the way. The mammoth oak tree loomed over even the peak of the Vast Poni Canyon, and the charcoal-like exterior created an ominous vibe. While the tree itself wasn’t scary by any means, the ancient olive colored vines wrapped around it seemed to demand respect and attention. All of this, along with the carved wooden columns at the entrance screamed a very clear message: Enter at Your Own Risk.

While the idea of the Battle Tree was relatively new, the builders intended it to be a place where only the strongest trainers of Alola could hone their skills. The location they decided on created the atmosphere for them, and now it was the League’s job to make sure the trainers within the Battle Tree were strong enough to help protect Alola if ever needed.

Moon heard the second group of recruits before she saw them. She could hear the loud hoots and hollers, which she assumed were being used to cheer on whoever was being evaluated. When she turned the “corner,” she found her suspicions were correct.  A teenage girl, probably a year or two older than Moon, with a backwards blue cap, black yoga pants, and long-sleeve blue sweater was in the middle of the semi-circle crowd of recruits, jumping up and down excitedly to encourage her Machamp, who was lifting one of the giant boulders from Vast Poni Canyon.

The girl’s Machamp grunted loudly as it threw the boulder forty feet towards a clearing. The crowd cheered, but stayed in place. Moon finally spotted Red making his way towards the boulder with Pikachu on his shoulder and a can of red paint in his hand. Once they made it to the boulder, Pikachu scurried off Red and dipped its tail into the paint, then traced a line into the grass to mark the distance. Red pulled out a clipboard from his backpack to write down the results, then cleaned Pikachu’s tail off with a towel.

“Sarah, congratulations. Machamp has improved by at least twelve feet.” Red announced in an even tone. The crowd cheered again, clapping Sarah on the back. Moon met Red over on the sidelines while the next recruit released his Pangoro.

“Hey Red! That Machamp is pretty impressive, huh?” Moon questioned while giving him a quick hug.

“I would say it’s definitely improved. I wouldn’t use the word “impressive” on any Pokemon that can’t do that.” Red assessed while directing Moon’s attention to his Charizard, who picked up the boulder as if it was a pebble and placed it neatly into position in front of the Pangoro.

Moon just shook her head as she watched the crowd begin to cheer again. “I wish you didn’t have to leave so soon. I’m not sure what to do with these recruits once you and Blue go back to Kanto.” She expressed with a small smirk.

“If I know you-and I do, they are going to be wishing for the days Blue and I were here.” He replied with a smile. Moon knew he was suggesting that she would be ruthless, and he was right. She needed a protection team ready to back up the League, and she wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than perfection. They wouldn’t know what hit them.  

“Jack is the last of my evaluations. After that, we can get some lunch.”

While Pangoro didn’t beat Machamp’s distance, Moon was still impressed. Red said that it had improved by fifteen feet. Red gave a speech that was short and sweet, and dismissed the recruits for the weekend. Most of them returned their Pokemon and left quickly, but a few girls stuck around to chat with each other. Moon didn’t really feel comfortable with the way their eyes darted back and forth between her and Red, so she ushered him inside.

The duo made their way into the small restaurant inside the Battle Tree (only to be used by League personnel) and found a table to wait for Blue, who joined them a few minutes later.

“Alright alright, all of my evaluations are finished, how about you Red?” Blue asked, settling into his wooden stool of a chair.

“All finished. Moon, all the paperwork will be waiting for you in the Champion’s office. I think the recruits are off to a good start.” Red informed her while pointing a finger towards the ceiling.

“Great, thanks guys!” She smiled back at the two. “When does your plane leave?”

Red reached around to give Pikachu a pat on the head and pulled out a piece of paper from his backpack. “Our itinerary says we need to be at the airport in Hau’oli City by two o’clock, and our plane will leave at three forty-five.”

“Ugh, I hate airplanes.” Blue groaned.

Moon rolled her eyes at that. “Blue, you guys are flying first-class. I think you will have a better experience than most. Plus, its way too far of a trip for your Pokemon to make.”

Blue just grumbled under his breathe and ordered when the waitress came by.

“I wish you guys could stay a little longer, but I understand that duty calls. What exactly did Professor Oak say he needed you for?” Moon inquired.

“I really think its nothing, but Gramps sounded serious on the phone. He said that there have been a few reports of Team Rocket stirring up some trouble.” Blue answered. “But, Red pretty much ran their entire organization into the ground a few years ago, so I’m not really worried.”

“If Professor Oak wants us to check it out, then we will check it out. I haven’t gotten a call from Lance, so it sounds like the League isn’t too worried about it either.” Red chimed in.

Moon just sighed. “Well I sure hope its nothing. I don’t want you guys to be getting into any trouble.”

The two boys shared a look and burst out laughing. “Moon, trouble is my middle name” Blue winked at her. “And nobody is getting past the two of us.”

She smiled at their antics and tried to shake off the feeling that something was wrong. She knew that Red was probably one the most powerful trainers in the world right now, but after the Ultra Beast situation, she realized that there are forces out there that are difficult to understand. Moon just wanted her friends to be safe.

As the trio finished their meal, they reminisced on their time back in Pallet Town. The three of them had all come so far, and she was beyond happy she got to see them after so long.

“I think I need to leave to let you guys pack, because if I know you-and I do, it means that you haven’t even started yet.” She told them with a wink, to which they each gave her a guilty look.

“I’m going to miss you Moon. Come see us soon, okay? Sabrina would love to meet you.” Blue mused, wrapping her into a tight hug.

Moon nodded her head against his chest, and tried to hold onto the moment. Blue stepped back and let Red take his place. Red and Moon were silent for a few seconds before Moon said, “Keep Blue in check for me.” Red chuckled before releasing her.

“You bet. And Gladion seems like a good guy. Call us if you need anything, okay?” He said with a serious expression.

Moon felt her face flush at the mention of Gladion, but nodded her head. “Have a safe flight. I will see you soon!” She gave them both a wink before turning on her heel and heading out of the Battle Tree.

 

XX

 

Moon sipped her coffee and enjoyed the mixture of darkening colors of the sky while sitting in an outdoor café in Hau’oli City. Professor Kukui and Gladion sat across from her discussing a research something-or-another. To be honest, Moon had completely zoned out while watching the sky for planes.

May and Brendan were due to arrive in Hau’oli City in ten minutes, and Moon could barely contain her excitement, causing her pokeballs to wriggle as they fed off her emotions. Moon had studied every region extensively during her time waiting to become a Pokemon trainer, and Hoenn had stood out as the top region she would want to visit one day.

She knew that the pokemon Bagon had originated from Hoenn, and Moon was interested to see how Smaug compared to its far-away family.  Other than her personal connection, she was extremely interested in the legendary Pokemon originating from each region, and Hoenn was home to Groudon and Kyogre. Well, “home” was a relative term. Of course, no one alive had actually seen the beasts, but there were primal cave paintings found in a town called Dewford that Moon had read extensively on. Besides that, Moon was more excited to see what Pokemon May and Brendan owned, and if they each owned a Pokedex.

“Moon, are you with us?” a voice asked next to her.

She blinked away her train of thought and focused on Gladion. “You bet. I’m just excited for them to get here.”

He gave her a small, knowing smile. “I know you are looking forward to seeing what Pokemon they have. But before we corner them with a battle, maybe we can have dinner first at Aether Paradise. They need the weekend to settle in before going to work.”

She rolled her eyes in response. “I know I know. But before we go to work, we should have some fun too!”

“Fun should always come before work, I always say!” Professor Kukui chimed in.

Moon chuckled before noticing the small plane entering the city limits. “Hey, look! There it is!”

The trio let the waiter take their empty coffee mugs and headed off towards the airport. Hau’oli City was the only place in Alola with an airport, besides the private hanger at the Aether Foundation. With one terminal, and a total of four gates, Melemele Islands’ International airport wasn’t exactly what you would call “big.”

Thankfully, that meant it was nice and easy to spot May and Brendan as they came down the escalator towards the single baggage claim carousel.  They each looked to be around her same age, Moon noticed in relief. May had on short white shorts with black biker spandex underneath, with a tight black and red tank top on. She sported a green and white bandana over her brunette mane that matched a fanny pack that she wore around her waist. May was a little shorter than Moon was, but seemed to make up for it in spunk. She bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet as they made their way down the escalator.

Brendan was a lot more calm, and was noticeably trying to get May involved in whatever conversation he thought they were having. He looked to be around the same height as Gladion and wore black and grey shorts with a grey shirt to match underneath a sporty red and white athletes jacket. His white cap had a green streak that matched his shouldered backpack.

Once they reached the bottom floor, Moon, Gladion, and Professor Kukui made their way over to them.

“May and Brendan?” Professor Kukui asked, holding out a hand for them to shake.

“Yes sir, you must be Professor Kukui. It’s great to meet you sir.” Brendan replied while shaking the offered hand.

“Yes sir, thank you so much for having us.” May responded, shaking his hand as well.

“Welcome to Alola! Let me introduce you to Moon, Champion of Alola, and Gladion, President of the Aether Foundation.”

“Future president, but it’s great to meet you both.” Gladion cut in, shooting an eye towards the Professor.

Once the introductions were complete, we showed them towards the carousel to wait for their bags.

“How was your trip?” Moon asked.

“Fine, thank you. Traveling first-class is very exciting!” May replied with twinkling eyes, and Moon got the idea it was probably her first time.

“Yeah, it was great until you started snoring. Woke up the whole plane.” Brendan joked, effectively earning himself a punch in the arm.

“Anyway, I hope its okay that we brought a lot of luggage. It sounded like we are going to be here for a while, so I didn’t want to forget anything…” she muttered as five giant suitcases made their way towards the group.

“By the way-only one of those is mine.” Brendan snorted. Professor Kukui and Gladion gave each other wide-eyed looks, and everyone each took a turn grabbing a suitcase from the carousel.

Once they had dragged the insane amount of luggage outside, Professor Kukui released an Alakazam. “Alakazam here will transport us to the Aether Foundation, where we can drop off your suitcases.” In a bright flash of light, the group was seamlessly transported to the entrance of Gladion’s mansion.

“Woah, Professor, that was a smooth Teleport!” Brendan marveled.

“Thanks Brendan, Alakazam is the official League transporter, if you happen to prefer it to flying.” He explained, shooting a look towards Moon.

“Anyway, here we are. Come on in.” Gladion interrupted, leading them inside. Moon could hear May and Brendan gasp in surprise, but she was trying to contain her own wonder. She had been here plenty of times before, but Moon never got tired of the view.

They were standing in a massive white marble foyer with columns aesthetically placed around the room. A set of mahogany double doors were placed on either side of them, leading to the impressive library to the west and to the kitchen and master dining room to the east. Past the double doors were two grand staircases, each leading to a separate wing for guest rooms. On the far end of the foyer was a set of mahogany double doors under an archway. Intricate forged metal encased each side of the doors, giving the impression of a medieval time period. Above them hung an antique masterpiece of a chandelier, which brought crystal-like streams of light into the foyer.

Moon loved it here.

“Gladion…this is just…wow…” May mumbled, taking everything in.

Gladion coughed uncomfortably, “Uh, thanks. May, you have a suite prepared in the East Wing, and Brendan in the West Wing. Mrs. Wicke and Heidi will show you to your rooms.” At the mention of their names, the women each appeared from the dining hall with an Abra at each of their sides. They gave a short bow in greeting, then instructed the Abras to teleport May and Brendan’s luggage to their rooms.

“This way, Miss May.” Heidi called, leading May up towards the East Wing, and Miss Wicke leading Brendan towards the West Wing.

“Gladion, what exactly are you going to do with all of this space?” Professor Kukui asked with a hint of awe in his voice.

He just shrugged. Moon knew Gladion didn’t really like being here if he could help it. There was just so much space for one person, and it just reminded him of how his family was no longer there to occupy it.

“I’m just hoping that one day I won’t be the only one living here.” He muttered, trying not to make eye contact with Moon. Her face flushed and she suddenly because very interested in the artwork hanging on the walls.

“Man, this place is just awesome! Thank you so much Gladion for letting us stay here!” Brendan’s voice rung out, breaking the tension. Him and May bounded down the steps at the same time, meeting in the middle on the marble floor. Moon noticed they shared a familiar look before meeting them in the foyer.

“You are very welcome. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go check on dinner.” Gladion told them and slipped behind the door that led to the dining room.

Before Moon could stop herself, she asked, “So, guys, what kind of Pokemon do you have?” The Professor laughed while May and Brendan’s eyes flashed with excitement.

“Well I have-“May began.

“The first course is served. Please convene to the dining room.” Miss Wicke announced, holding the doors open for the group.

Moon winked at May, “Later.”

The dining room table could easily fit twenty-five people, but Gladion motioned for them to join him towards the side closest to the windows. May and Brendan walked around towards the other side, and Brendan took a seat next to Gladion with May next to him. Opposite the newcomers, Professor Kukui took his seat two chairs down from Gladion’s, and Gladion pulled out Moon’s chair for her before taking his spot at the head of the table. Mood saw May lightly smack Brendan in the arm and motion towards Gladion as if saying, “ _Dude, why can’t you be a gentleman like him_?”

Once they were settled, five servers came around to fill their glasses with water before bringing out a small bowl of steaming soup that smelled delicious. As they dug in, Moon spoke up. “Gladion, May and Brendan were just going to tell me what Pokemon each of them had.”

 “Oh yes! I would love to hear what kind of Pokemon you each have been training.” Gladion responded, sounding like an excited kid.

“Me first!” May squealed, shushing Brendan. “My starter was Torchic, who is now Blaziken. Then I have a Raichu, Wailord, Breloom, and Swellow!”

“Mudkip was my starter, who’s now a Swampert. I also have a Macargo, Manectric, Roselia, and Slaking!” Brendan finished.

Moon was beyond herself with glee. She loved the three Hoenn starters, and she had the chance to see two of their fully evolved forms in person! “How cool! I can’t wait to meet them!”

“Yes, me neither. Maybe after dinner we can have a meet and greet with all of our Pokemon before bed.” Gladion suggested.

“That would be so cool! I’ve always wanted to meet a Champion level team!” Brendan gushed, making the heat in Moon’s face rise.

“Hehe, yeah sure!” She said nervously, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. The gesture made her remember that they were missing someone.

“Oh! Gladion, let’s call Hau after dinner and tell him to meet us here too. I think he should be done with Hala by then.”

Gladion nodded and turned towards May. “Hau is one of Moon’s best friends. He has a Raichu also, so I’m sure they would get along great.”

May gasped, “An Alolan Raichu? Oh, I’ve always wanted to meet one!”

“Then today is your lucky day.” Moon responded with a wink.

Once the group was finished with their first course, the servers came to clear their plates and place the main course in front of them.

“This smells delicious!” Brendan exclaimed before digging in.

During dinner, Professor Kukui asked questions about the newcomers lives in Hoenn. May and Brendan were both from a small town called New Bark Town. Brendan’s father was Pokemon Professor Birch, and the two of them worked as traveling research assistants for him. Moon’s father was a gym leader in Petalburg, and he took Brendan under his wing to help train his Slaking. While Brendan was an avid battler, May focused on Pokemon Contests.

“That sounds so exciting! I always wondered what one is like.” Moon said.

“They are actually pretty cool, and May is really, really good.” Brendan observed, and May glowed with pride at the compliment.

“It’s sort of my niche. I can never seem to beat Brendan in a battle though, he’s so good! He almost made it through the Elite Four his first year as a trainer!” May gushed, causing Brendan to turn bright red.

“Yeah…Phoebe and her Ghost types crushed me. But we will try again eventually.” Brendan muttered, a little embarrassed at the attention.

Once dessert was finished, Moon excused herself to call Hau on her Rotom Dex, and confirmed that he would meet them outside in ten minutes. Back in the dining room, she joined in the conversation about Alola, promising to take them on a tour tomorrow.

Miss Wicke appeared to inform them that Hau had arrived outside. When they went out to meet him, he was finishing up on a call.

“Yeah, yeah! I’ll let them know you said hi. I’ll tell Moon to call you tomorrow. Uh..yeah…I miss you too Lillie. Bye!” he mumbled, hoping his companions wouldn’t hear.

Gladion crossed his arms in an angry fashion. “What do you think you’re doing telling my sister that you miss her?”

Hau’s face turned bright red as he stuttered, “I-I-I d-d-don’t kn-o-ow….”

Gladion’s entire demeanor changed as a grin swept across his face and he clapped Hau on the back. “I’m just messing with you. How is she doing?”

Hau let out a sigh of visible relief. “Don’t scare me like that, man! She’s doing good. She says that Bill is a little strange, but she thinks he will be able to help Lusamine.”

Gladion’s left eye twitched at the mention of his mother, but he nodded a response. Moon picked up on the tension and quickly tried to change the subject.

“May, Brendan, this is Hau! Interm-Kahuna of Melemele Island, and one of my best friends.” She introduced.

Hau shook both of their hands and transitioned into his overenergetic self again. “I heard you guys are from Hoenn! I’m dying to see your Pokemon!”

They all chuckled, and Brendan said, “You bet! Come on out guys!” and released his Pokemon onto the empty space next to him. May was next, “Yay! Let’s go!” and released hers as well.

Hau, Gladion, and finally Moon followed suit, and before they knew it, twenty-four powerful Pokemon surrounded them outside of Gladion’s mansion. May and Moon kept Wailord and Lunala inside their pokeballs for obvious reasons, but promised to show them off later.

“What a great looking group of Pokemon you all have there! I am looking forward to spending some time with them all at a later date. I’m afraid I have to head back home to my wife, but I will see you all on Monday!” Professor Kukui bid them all farewell and released Alakazam before disappearing in a flash of light.

 Hau, Gladion, and Moon introduced their Pokemon to May and Brendan’s and let them be. Marowak and Silvally stuck close to Moon and Gladion’s sides, but other than that all their Pokemon seemed to be fairly social.

Moon observed that Primarina seemed to be extremely interested in Brendan’s Swampert, while Hau and May’s Raichu chattered away with Brendan’s Manectric. Gladion’s Crobat and Weavile were trying to torture/wake up Hau’s Komala and Brendan’s Slaking who had fallen asleep immediately off to the side. May’s Blaziken and Gladion’s Lucario were exchanging soft blows of fighting techniques, while Vikavolt buzzed around a huddle of Hau’s Leafeon, Brendan’s Roselia, and May’s Breloom.

Moon wasn’t surprised that Smaug and Hau’s Incineroar grumbled menacingly at Gladion’s Porygon-Z, who aimlessly floated around the duo. They weren’t exactly the most social creatures. She was thankful that Dugtrio could make friends with anyone, as evidence by its happy coos to May’s Swellow and Gladion’s Crabonable.

All in all, Moon decided that the meeting went over with flying colors. May gushed over each of their Pokemon’s shiny coats, describing the excellent condition they were in. Brendan was slowly trying to inch his way over to Smaug and Incineroar to get a better look at the beasts, while Hau and Gladion calmly chatted away next to Lucario and Blaziken.

“Moon, you must think about entering Primarina into a Pokemon Contest. I’m sure you guys could run circles around anyone in the Normal Rank!” May beamed, patting a very pleased Primarina.

“If I ever visit Hoenn, I might have to do that! I’m sure we could come up with a killer routine!” Moon responded, letting the idea blossom in her head. She would visit one day, but they would need to be ready.

The group carried on like that for a little while longer before Moon couldn’t help but let out a yawn. Gladion wrapped his arm around Moon’s shoulder and asked, “Getting a little tired, huh? I think that’s our cue to head to bed.”

“Sorry guys, it’s been a really long week, and I’m a wimp when it comes to staying up late. I promise that we can go on a tour of Alola tomorrow though.” Moon mumbled, trying to keep the yawning to a minimum.

“Yay! I can’t wait to explore!” May let out an excited squeal before returning her Pokemon in a flash of scarlet light.

“Sounds good. We will see you tomorrow.” Brendan nodded before returning his Pokemon as well.

“Go ahead in, guys. I’m just going to say goodnight to Moon.” Gladion motioned for the newcomers to go inside without him. He returned his Pokemon as well and wrapped Moon in a tight hug. “Goodnight, Moon.” He whispered, giving her a swift kiss on the lips before heading inside.

“Oh sure, no goodbye for me!” Hau complained before a look from Gladion shut him up. Hau returned his Pokemon and turned to Moon. “Hehe, mind if I catch a ride back to Melemele Island?”

Moon shook her head and returned everyone except for Smaug. “Climb on up, buddy!” The duo held on tight while Moon’s dragon took off into the night.

 

XX

 

**_Six months later…_ **

_“Five!”_

_“Four!”_

_“Three!”_

_“Two!”_

_“One!”_

_“Happy New Year!”_

Cheers, hoops, and hollers resounded throughout the decorated foyer of the mansion as the crowd watched the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop in Lumiose City in Kalos from the big screen above the grand doors leading to Gladion’s room.

Moon was almost as energetic as Hau tonight, which was probably thanks to the three glasses of champagne she had just downed. As she watched the joyful crowd celebrate around her, she couldn’t help but think back to all the great things that had occurred over the past six months…

After working extensively with the Ultra Recon Squad, the League and the Aether Foundation had finally discovered the specific type of light energy Necrozma was attracted to. It’s funny, the break in the case came about two months ago when Moon had dropped by to check-in on the research after a Z-Move training session with the Battle Tree recruits.

While the normal Alola trainer owned one or two, Moon held seventeen Z-Crystals. Moon was very protective over her them, and normally kept the crystals in a vault within the League for safe-keeping when they weren’t draped around her Pokemon’s neck. However, after a training session out on Poni Island, she had them on her person. As soon as she stepped through the double doors in the lab area, the Ultra Recon Squad’s radar equipment from Ultra Megalopolis sounded off like an angry Noivern.

After testing and researching the Z-Crystals, they discovered a strange connection with Necrozma. The Prism Pokemon, as the locals from Ultra Megalopolis called it, shared an incredible amount of properties with the energy radiating from the crystals. They hypothesized that when Necrozma awoke, they could potentially lure it to a specific spot in Alola, rather than it popping up somewhere random and terrorizing the people there.

After some thought, Moon decided the best place for Necrozma to appear would be the Alter of the Moone on Poni Island. For one, the island was the least populated, and the alter itself was miles away from the Seafolk Village. The researchers from the Aether Foundation discovered it was the ideal spot for a wormhole to appear as well. Something about physics this and physics that, Moon wasn’t particularly interested in the how or why. She just wanted to know _when_.

 _When_ was a super-powered Pokemon from another dimension going to awake after completely absorbing the light from a world where people and Pokemon flourished together? It was only a matter of time, and she had to be prepared to protect Alola from whatever challenge Necrozma would bring.

However, the Necrozma project was not the only research that was being completed. May and Brendan continued to work side by side with researchers from the Aether Foundation on the study of regional variances of Pokemon found in Alola. One of Moon’s favorite places to visit in Alola was the Conservation Area, where all the Pokemon participating in their study could be found. She loved how closely each one of the Pokemon were looked after, and any residual fear of Lusamine’s treatment of Pokemon was wiped away.

Moon smiled as she remembered May and Brendan’s attempt at a date a few months ago. While May was bright and excited, Brendan was nervous and downcast. They had been friends since they were kids, and trying to transition into a relationship was a lot harder than they thought. Eventually, they decided they worked better as friends.

Moon honestly couldn’t say that she was surprised. Brendan had never seemed comfortable with the idea, and she thought he was trying to force his feelings so that he wouldn’t hurt May. But, it all worked out in the end. May was disappointed at first, but Moon encouraged her to just be herself, and to move past this little bump in the road. It took a few weeks, but May and Brendan returned to being friends and working together smoothly.

Speaking of relationships, apparently Hau and Lillie were still going strong. The thought of her best friends so happy warmed Moon to the core. While it was hard living so far apart, she knew that they talked every day, and that Lillie was planning on visiting Alola soon. Lillie was happy that her mother was showing signs of improvement, albeit small.

Red and Blue had taken it upon themselves to look after Lillie, considering she was Moon’s best friend. Lillie wasn’t used to the attention, but they had set her up with her own Pokemon, a Clefairy. From there, Lillie had caught a cute Nidoran and Poliwag. Moon was over the top excited that her friend was training and developing her own team of Pokemon. Lillie was no longer the shy, defenseless girl who relied on others to protect her. She was becoming her own woman, and Moon knew that Hau would treat her the way she deserved to be treated.

And then there was Gladion.

Her now full-blown boyfriend was making his way through the crowd. Once he reached her, Gladion scooped Moon into his arms and twirled her around, effectively clearing enough space for the two of them. “Happy New Year, Moon.” He told her before planting a soft kiss on her lips.

“It will be the best one yet. All thanks to you.” She replied sweetly, reaching her arms around his neck and pushing her forehead against his. Moon wanted to relish in the moment, remembering every second they had spent together over the past six months.

Tomorrow, everything would change. Gladion would officially be named as President of the Aether Foundation, and his duties and responsibilities would increase three-fold. Moon had begun to worry about the amount of time they would be able to spend together, but Gladion never gave any indication that he shared her concern, which she found comforting.

Moon had worked with Miss Wicke for weeks to plan a special ceremony for Gladion tomorrow. The massive garden that served as the connector between the Aether Foundation’s building and Gladion’s mansion would be able to hold all the Aether employees, along with a massive stage set for a press conference. She had arranged for all the League members to attend the ceremony, as well as every news outlet in Alola.

“Happy New Year, guys! I can’t wait to see what it has in store for us!” Hau cheered, shaking Moon from her thoughts about tomorrow.

Gladion and Hau raised their glasses to toast. “Moon, did you see who made it?” he asked, pointing towards a pair of trainers chatting away, their eyes darting towards Moon every now and then.

She rolled her eyes. Out of the ten trainers who had completed their Island Challenge within the last six months, two had made it past the Elite Four and challenged Moon for the title of Champion. Neither of them had gotten past Marowak, and they didn’t exactly take the loss well.

“Ace Trainer” Joel and “Rising Star” Dylan huddled together before pushing their way through the crowd towards Moon.

“Joel, Dylan.” Moon nodded a greeting.

“Happy New Year, Champion Moon.” Dylan responded venomously with a tight lip.

“Enjoy your time as Champion while it lasts. New Year, new me. You won’t know what hit you when we come for you.” Joel hissed while puffing his chest out.

Gladion’s eyes darkened at Joel’s threat, and he tightened his grip around Moon’s waist. “This is my house, and if you can’t learn to treat your Champion, and my girlfriend, with respect, then get out. Now.”

Their eye’s widened at Gladion’s expression, and they mumbled an apology under their breath before turning on their heels towards the door. Moon stepped out of Gladion’s tense embrace to look him in the eye.

“I could have handled that, you know.” She told him with a smile playing at her lips.

He didn’t return her gaze until he watched the boys slip out the door. “I know. But nobody talks to my girlfriend that way.”

“Way to scare the pants off those guys, dude!” Hau cheered, patting Gladion on the back.

He just rolled his eyes in response. “Let’s find the others, and get a drink. We’ve got a lot to celebrate.”

Moon shot Gladion a wide grin and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek. “Lead the way.” He offered her his hand, nodded towards Hau, and led them towards their friends.

 

XX

 

Moon’s alarm clock shook her awake as the sun was beginning to rise. She groaned in exhaustion, rubbed her eyes, and tried to find her bearings. She was back in her room at home on Melemele Island with Marowak still sleeping beside her.

She slipped on her running shorts and shoes and slipped out the door. As Moon tore through her usual route, she ran through a mental checklist of what she needed to get done before Gladion’s ceremony. She needed to brief a few of the Battle Tree recruits she enlisted in acting as security today, and check-in on the projects going on at the Aether Foundation.

Moon tried to shake a sense of dread that passed through her. From the communications the Ultra Recon Squad had with their people from Ultra Megalopolis, Necrozma was slowly stirring. Moon thought they had a little bit more time to prepare, but she knew a battle was coming soon.

As she rounded the corner leading back to her house, she noticed her mom standing outside waiting for her.

“Mom?” Moon asked, confused as to why her mother was awake at this hour.

“Honey, Professor Kukui called on Rotom. He asked for you to head to the lab area of the Aether Foundation as soon as you can.” She sounded a little worried, and Moon couldn’t blame her. The Professor never called this early.

“Okay, thanks Mom. I’m going to take a quick shower then head over there.” Moon took the stairs two at a time and returned Marowak in a bright flash of scarlet light before heading into the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, she was showered and dressed. She decided to go with her light jean shorts with her red and black blouse. Since Moon didn’t have time to fix her hair, she threw on her stupidly expensive white hat with a red ribbon tied around it to match her shirt.

“Bye Mom! I’ll see you there later!” She called out before closing the front door behind her.

Miss Wicke was waiting for her as Smaug touched down by the docks of Aether Paradise. “Champion Moon, I was asked to escort you to the lab area as soon as you arrived.” That sense of dread appeared in the pit of Moon’s stomach again as she followed Miss Wicke down the elevator. _What is going on?_

It was chaos when Moon entered through the lab doors. Fifteen researchers were rushing around the room, scanning through book after book. Psycho and Soliera were huddled around a set of three computer monitors while Dulse and Zossie whispered in hushed tones with Professor Kukui. When he noticed Moon, he ushered her over to them.

“Professor, what in the world is going on?” He exchanged nervous glances with his companions and turned towards Moon.

“Well…early this morning, Psycho received a message from Ultra Megalopolis. Necrozma has been showing increased levels of activity. But it doesn’t seem to be fully awake yet.”

“We can just be prepared, right? After the ceremony today, we can head to the Alter of the Moone and get set up.” She expressed, the knot in her stomach getting tighter and tighter.

He gave her a grave look. “There is something else you need to know, Moon. In an attempt to gather more information, the Squad operating at their home base used a Pokemon called Poipole to get close to the beast. Poipole was about fifteen feet from Necrozma when a flash of light enveloped the area. Poipole was gone when the light dimmed.”

She tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean, it was gone? Where did it go?”

Psycho stepped in then, “As far as we can tell, the Prism Pokemon absorbed the light from Poipole, and infused it within itself.”

_It did WHAT?_

“Are you telling me that Necrozma has the ability to fuse with other Pokemon? Or absorb them completely?” She asked, completely dumbfounded.

Professor Kukui placed a hand on her shoulder. “That is the current hypothesis. We are frantically looking for any mention of any record of a Pokemon fusing with another to try to get our heads wrapped around this. If its happened before, maybe it has also been separated.”

Moon’s mind raced, trying to recall anything about Pokemon fusion. She groaned when she came up with nothing. Maybe her friends had heard of something like that.

“Professor, I am going to make a few calls. I’ll see if I can come up with anything.” Moon left the lab area and called Gladion on her way up to the Conservation Area.

“Hey Moon-“

“Gladion, I’m on my way up. Please find May and Brendan for me. It’s important.” She hung up as soon as she got the request out. This was something you could only discuss in person.

Once she recited the Ultra Recon Squad’s findings, her friends all broke out in panic at once.

“Are you kidding-“

“How in the world does that-“

“How can we stop-“

“What do we-“

She held up her hands and waited for them to get their frustrations out. “Guys, we are trying to figure out a way to prepare for this. We don’t even know if Necrozma will try to do something like that. But we are looking for any proof of one Pokemon fusing with another. Have you heard of anything like that?”

Her heart sank when each one of them shook their heads. Gladion pulled her into a tight hug. “It’s going to be okay, Moon.” She struggled to believe him.

He released her, but stayed close. “Hey, why don’t you call Red and Blue? Maybe they know something.” Moon nodded her head and tried to look optimistic.

“I’ll let you guys know if I find anything. Try not to worry about it until after the ceremony though.” She tightened her hold on Gladion’s hand before letting go and heading back down the elevator.

Red picked up on the first ring. “Moon.”

She couldn’t help but smile at his official greeting. “Red, I have a problem here. Have you ever heard of a Pokemon fusing together with another Pokemon?”

He was quiet for a second. “Has something happened?”

“Well, not yet. Not here anyway. More of a preemptive measure.”

“I might have heard something about that happening in the Unova region. Let me make a few calls.”

Moon’s heart pounded with possible relief. “Thanks Red. How are things in Kanto? What did your investigation into Team Rocket produce?”

Red sighed. “They are definitely back. But something is strange about their return. I’ve seen reports of them popping up in Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Kalos. It doesn’t make sense for them to be able to travel so quickly.”

The sense of dread Moon had been feeling all morning spread throughout her stomach. “Something is happening Red. I can feel it.”

Red was quiet for another few seconds. “We will fight whatever is coming. I’ll get back to you once I make a few calls.” The line went dead.

Moon went back to lab area to let Professor Kukui know that she might have a lead. “Once he calls me back, I will let you know. Until then, I need to go to the Battle Tree. It will keep me busy.”

She bid him farewell and released Smaug by the docks. Her faithful dragon roared its greeting, and her tension released a bit. Being close to her Pokemon always made her feel better. She checked the time, Eight-fifteen. If she hurried, she could spend some time at Poke Pelago before the ceremony.

Moon knew that she should probably stay close in case something happened, but she needed some time to prepare with her Pokemon. She climbed onto Smaug’s back and raced towards Poni Island.

As she approached the Battle Tree, a group of ten recruits stood in formation. She would keep this brief.

“Recruits. My time is limited. I want you to arrive at Aether Paradise at eleven on the dot. Keep the crowd far enough away from the stage, and make sure nobody tries any funny business.That is my boyfriend up there, and if anything happens to him, I will hold you personally responsible.”

She allowed herself a mental smile when she saw the recruits flinch. When she took over the training from Red and Blue, she was limited in time. Due to her responsibilities as Champion, she could only train the recruits on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Friday mornings. However, this didn’t mean that her training regimen was any less difficult than Red and Blue’s-more so, in fact.

After her morning runs, she would fly over to the Battle Tree to begin the day. She didn’t want the recruits to miss being woken up by a dragon on training mornings after all. Battle and battle strategy were her main focus. She believed you learned the best through experience, and competing in a real-life battle scenario against a Champion-level team was the best experience she could think of.

She felt a rush of pride as she thought of how far each of them had come. Red and Blue would be proud.

“Dismissed. Don’t forget- _keep him safe_.” She warned before climbing back onto Smaug.

“Let’s go see Mohn, okay buddy?” Smaug roared in agreement and took off towards the bright, blue ocean.

 

XX

 

“Moon! It Is wonderful to see you. Your Pokemon sure are excited to see you.” Moon gave her dear friend a tight hug.

Moon discovered this string of small islands while on a lazy flight with Smaug. She hadn’t been going anywhere in particular, and was enjoying having Vikavolt buzz around her while the sun began to set. In the corner of her eye she had caught movement on the main island below them.

Smaug almost scared the daylights out of the strange man who was hammering together a few pieces of driftwood. Mohn had wild blonde hair that was covered by a thin straw hat, and his clear green eyes made her immediately feel at home. Of course, she had offered to bring him back to where he came from, but his eyes would fog over and he would get confused, so she just dropped it. If he was happy here on these islands, then she would let him be.

Even after spending only a few minutes with Mohn, Moon could tell that he was a good man. She offered to help him build a home here, which he was delighted for the help. Every week, she would bring Mohn more and more supplies such as wood, food, water, etc. It was only after he began planting a garden on one of the islands that she realized he was smart enough to survive on his own. However, she didn’t enjoy the fact that he was out here all by himself, so she offered to leave a few of her Pokemon that she had caught there to keep him company.

He was wonderful with her Pokemon. Mohn had built play structures for her Pokemon to enjoy, and with the help of her Pokemon planted berries and trees that grew pokebeans, created a make-shift Pokemon spa, and prepared trails for her Pokemon to explore inside of a cave. They had grown quite close, and both Mohn and Moon enjoyed her weekly visits.

“Its great to see you too. I just needed a place to get my bearings…” she muttered, failing to make eye contact with him.

“Hey, Hey. What’s wrong?” he asked with worried eyes.

“Somethings coming. A Pokemon that is ten times more powerful than we originally thought is going to come and threaten Alola, and I don’t know if I will be able to stop it. Also, I have a bad feeling that something else is going on. I’m scared.” Moon felt tears prickle at the edges of her eyes.

“Well, that does sound pretty scary. But you are a strong girl, Moon. I know that you won’t rest until Alola is safe.” He comforted her, wiping a fallen tear from her face.

“But Mohn, this is dealing with wormholes and different worlds, and I don’t understand the first thing about any of that!” She cried, shaking off his hand. Moon immediately felt guilty when she saw the fog returning to his eyes.

“Oh no, Mohn, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. Can I just see my Pokemon before I have to go back?”

The fog began to clear again, but the shocked look on his face remained. “Uh..yes. Please, excuse me.”

 _That was weird_ , she thought to herself.

She tried shaking off the nerves and released all six of her Pokemon. They each chittered their hello before running off to find their friends. Moon tried to take her time to say hi to each of the Pokemon she kept here at Poke Pelgao, as she and Mohn called it. There was only a total of twenty-two, not counting her party Pokemon. Each one was dear to her heart, but they were more comfortable here than with her.

As she made her rounds, Lunala stayed close by, which was different. Lunala normally was the first to go find the friends it had made while it was a Cosmog, but today it hovered directly above her protectively. The sense of dread she was feeling completely washed over her as she remembered Lunala’s connection to other worlds. Moon knew that it can create wormholes to other worlds, although she had never tried it out. It was just too weird to think about.

 _Lunala can sense something is wrong. How am I going to fix this?_ Moon sat next to her Poliwhirl and Growlithe and placed her face in her hands.

While she was wallowing, Rotom started buzzing. “Bzzzzzt. You are getting a call from Red, Moon!” She instantly snapped out of it and yelled, “Answer!”

Red’s intense face appeared on the small screen in front of her. “Moon. I found what you were looking for.”

Moon almost fainted she was so relieved. “That’s great! Details.”

“A trainer named White encountered a Pokemon in the Unova region who could fuse together with another thanks to something called the ‘DNA Splicers.’ When she defeated the Pokemon, it didn’t have the energy to hold the fusion in place.”

She thought about what Red told her for a few seconds. “Red, send me White’s contact information. I want her here. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Moon, what is going on?” Red asked, concerned.

“Something bad. I don’t know when it will happen though.”

“Blue and I will be on the first plane out.”

“Wait, Red no! You both have responsibilities in Kanto!” she argued.

“I have a feeling these things are connected, Moon. Stay safe until we get there.” With that, the line abruptly went dead. Well, at least she now had some answers. She dialed Professor Kukui right away and relayed the message.

“I am going to forward you White’s contact information. Do whatever you need to do to get her on a plane to Alola. Make sure she has those DNA Splicers, we need to do some research on them.”

When she hung up, Moon whistled for her team to join her. “Alright guys, its time to go wish Gladion good luck. After that, be ready for a tough battle, okay? I believe in you.” Her Pokemon roared their agreement, and disappeared in a bright scarlet light.

Moon turned to find Mohn still sitting in his raft hut looking confused. “Mohn...are you okay? I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier.”

He looked up at her, and the fog seemed to clear away. “No no, that’s quite alright Moon. It’s just something you said seemed to jog a faint memory. It will take me some time to sort it out. Don’t worry about me though, go on and save Alola-again!” He gave her a tight hug and sent her on her way.

Moon couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his head as she flew back towards Aether Paradise. She made a note to visit again soon to see if he remembered anything about his past.

 

XX

 

Thirty minutes later, Moon touched down at the docks, where Miss Wicke was waiting for her. She gave a short bow and let Wicke lead her to her boyfriend. “The Professor would like for me to inform you that he successfully contacted Grand Duchess White. She and her boyfriend, Master N, will arrive in Hau’oli City tomorrow at two-thirty p.m.”

She let out a sigh of relief. “That’s great. Thanks Miss Wicke.”

Miss Wicke opened the doors of Gladion’s mansion for her, and she slipped in. Moon knocked on his bedroom door and waited to be invited in. She was still intimidated by this place, and wasn’t ready to start opening doors willy-nilly.

The grand doors swung open and she was pulled into the room. She was about to protest, but the sight of her boyfriend took Moon’s breath away.

Gladion was dressed in sharp black slacks and expensive dress shoes. The sleeves of his fresh white shirt were rolled up twice, and his collar was popped as he attempted to tighten his tie. Moon’s heart fluttered as she realized his tie matched the color of her eyes. Gladion’s blonde hair had grown out a little since his last haircut, so it was gelled back neatly. All in all, he looked like a million bucks.

He was never one to flaunt how much money he had, and the way he dressed was no exception. His normal attire consisted of regular jeans and his favorite black hoodie. Moon never really cared about the way he dressed, but she could definitely get used to this.

“Enjoying the view?” He asked confidently with a smirk on his face. Moon would normally roll her eyes at that comment, but she just walked over and began helping him fix his tie.

“I think you look great Gladion.” She replied shyly. He tipped her chin towards him so that she was forced to look him in the eyes.

“You look beautiful. I wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you.” He met his lips with hers, and she deepened the kiss. When the two broke apart, both were panting hard.

“You’re killing me. I’m supposed to give a speech in ten minutes and my entire mind just went blank.” Gladion growled, tucking a stray hair behind Moon’s ear.

“Then I better not distract you anymore.” She said with a wink. “You will be great. You deserve this, and I can’t wait to see how things turn out.”

Before Moon could turn towards the door, Gladion grabbed her hand and pulled her back into his arms. “Moon…I…Before I go out there..I just wanted to say…” he started nervously.

“What is it?” She asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“I love you.”

Moon’s eyes widened, but she didn’t miss a beat. “I love you too.” They stared at each other for a second before breaking out into wide smiles. Moon had known how she felt for a long time, but was waiting for Gladion to say it first. Now that he had, she couldn’t be happier.

He gave her another deep kiss before releasing her. “Now that that’s settled, I have a Foundation to take over.”

She shot him another wink before slipping out the door as he shrugged on his jacket to complete the look.

When she was outside, Moon took a deep breath and placed her hands on her knees. She was so unbelievably happy after talking to Gladion, but she couldn’t help that same feeling of dread that found its way to her again. Something was going to happen, and soon.

Before she could spend too much time thinking, she boldly strolled up the stairs to the stage and found her chair next to Professor Kukui. Moon looked out into the large crowd decorated with people in suits branded with the Aether Foundation logo and her heart swelled with pride. Gladion would do well taking care of this place.

Moon noted four of her Battle Tree recruits scattered throughout the crowd, four lining the stage, and the last standing by the doors of Gladion’s mansion. _Good_. Hau, May, Brendan, and the Elite Four were standing in the front row, giving her smiles and thumbs-up.

Miss Wicke stood from her chair near the end of the stage and made her way towards the microphone. She adjusted her purple glasses before speaking. “Ladies and Gentleman, thank you all for being here at Aether Paradise. Please let me introduce our respected Branch Manager, Joseph!” Everyone clapped as a grey-haired man approached the microphone.

“Thank you, Miss Wicke. And thank you to everyone who was able to be here with us today. I became Branch Manager a little over six months ago, after the incident involving our former President.” The crowd noticeably hushed at the mention of Lusamine.

“Those were dark times, and many of us were scared, and nervous about who would take over. Over the past six months of working alongside Master Gladion, I can honestly say that there is no one else that I would want as our President. Gladion is bright, involved, and knows his way around a research lab. During his time at the Aether Foundation, he has blossomed into the man his father, the founder of the Aether Foundation, would be proud of. Without further ado, please let me introduce your new President, Gladion!” Joseph motioned towards the doors of the mansion and Gladion strolled out, and Moon drank in the sight.

The audience erupted, cameras flashed, and every news reporter there was asking a million questions and shoving their microphones in Gladion’s face. He waved to everyone around him and followed the Battle Tree security up towards the stage. Gladion shook Professor Kukui’s hand before giving Moon a big hug and kissing her on the cheek.

He made his way towards the center of the stage and greeted Branch Manager Joseph with a bear hug. _They must go way back_ , Moon thought to herself.

He waved towards the crowd a little more before clearing his throat into the microphone, indicating he was ready to speak. The crowd went silent in anticipation.

“Thank you for that wonderful introduction, Joseph. Thank you all for being here, and I would also like to thank the people who got me to where I am today. It wasn’t an easy journey, and many unexpected events happened that changed the course of each of our lives. Many of you were around when my father started the Aether Foundation, and when he disappeared, we all felt his loss.”

A sad agreement passed throughout the crowd, and Gladion continued. “My mother tried her best to pick up where he left off, but her mind began to slowly slip away as she tried and failed to bring my father back. The fear and disappointment left her vulnerable to outside forces. But thanks to the Alola Champion, my wonderful girlfriend Moon, she was saved.” Gladion motioned towards Moon, and the crowd erupted into cheers again before quieting down.

“Thank you to every person at the Aether Foundation who took the time to help me grow in spirit, knowledge, and confidence. Because of you, I am prepared to accept this position as President, and will work tirelessly to help the Aether Foundation succeed. Let’s make Mohn proud, shall we?”

Moon’s breath caught. While the crowd probably exploded in applause, she was completely deaf to it.

_Let’s make Mohn proud, shall we?_

_Mohn_

_No. Freaking. Way._

Before she could process this new information, Professor Kukui was shaking her shoulders. Her eyes cleared, and she was able to see the panicked look on his face.

“Moon, I just received an emergency alert from Psycho. Necrozma is awake.”

XX

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: And there is Chapter 7! Thank you for reading, and please let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8: The Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: It has been way too long since I’ve updated, so sorry about that. I was going to make this the final chapter, but it is taking me longer than I’d like to finish the second half, so I decided to split it up.

After Alola

Chapter 8: The Aftermath

“Necrozma is awake”

All around Moon, everything seemed to happen in slow motion, and she was deaf to the hoops and hollers coming from the crowd. Professor Kukui’s panicked caramel eyes bore into hers as he tightened his grip on her shoulders, desperately trying to bring her out of the confused state she was in.

An explosion near the tail end of the crowd blasted everyone off their feet, and dark clouded smoke lingered above the ground, making it difficult for everyone to breathe. When Moon opened her eyes, her vision was blurry and the only thing she could hear was a high-pitched ringing. She scrambled to her feet and pressed her hands to the side of her head, trying to focus on the situation at hand.

“Moon! Moon!” Someone that sounded like they were underwater was calling to her. She turned to see a very haggard Gladion rushing towards her. He was covered in soot, and his suit was littered with tiny scratches. As soon as he reached her, his hands were on her face checking to see if she was injured.

“I’m okay, I’m okay!” She wheezed. Gladion’s face visibly relaxed, then tensed again and he looked out over the crowd.

“What happened?” He asked, his voice suddenly filled with anger. He got his answer when the smoke began to clear, and the beast Moon wished she would never face again hovered above the ground. Its translucent body glowed with an aura that radiated hate, and electricity sparked from the ends of its tentacles.

“Nihilego!” Moon screamed and grasped onto Gladion’s arm. “How did it get back here?” Panic and anger began crawling up her throat, and she immediately went for a Pokeball and sent out Primarina in a brilliant flash of scarlet energy.

“I have no idea! But we can’t let it harm any of the people here. Silvally, come on!” Gladion grabbed for his partner’s pokeball and the Synthetic Pokemon materialized beside him. He turned to Moon and yelled, “I’ll battle it, you make sure everyone is alright!” She nodded before he jumped from the stage towards the beast. Moon sent Primarina to follow as backup and went to each person on stage to check if they were hurt.

She sent out Marowak and Vikavolt to cover more ground and was thankful to find most everyone conscious and okay, albeit with a few cuts and bruises. Behind her, the crowd was hysterical. People were running every which way away from the battle ensuing, which consisted of Gladion and half of the Battle Tree Recruits and their Pokemon facing a very angry Nihilego. The rest of the Recruits were trying to corral the crowd back to the Aether Foundation’s main building towards the docks.

Professor Kukui groaned next to Moon, holding on to her for support as they made their way off the stage. He seemed to have been affected the worst and clamped a bruised hand around his torso. “I think you might have broken a few ribs Professor, and you might have internal bleeding. We need to get you out of here.” After Marowak and Vikavolt had gotten the rest of the people off the stage, they came back to help support the Professor.

“No..Moon, we must get to the Alter of the Moone. You have to be there when Necrozma travels to our world.” He inhaled sharply at the pain.

“I have to make sure everyone here is safe first! I can’t abandon them, and you certainly can’t travel in your condition.” She defended, trying to pick up the pace without causing him anymore pain.

He dragged them to a stop and held onto her tighter. “Moon, if you don’t go now, Necrozma will take all the light from Alola. You don’t have a choice.” He insisted.

Moon choked back a sob and called over to Mikey, one of the Recruits, and his Tauros for help. “Mikey, I need you to bring out Hypno to teleport Professor Kukui back to the Pokemon Center for treatment and use Tauros to make sure Nihilego doesn’t get to the people if it breaks through the ranks. He nodded and did what he was told.

Once she knew Professor Kukui would be in good hands, she returned Marowak and Vikavolt, and whistled for Primarina. She tossed Smaug’s pokeball into the air and watched her dragon materialize in front of her. Its eyes immediately focused on the battle behind them, but Moon shook her head.

“This is not our fight Smaug, we have to trust them to defeat the Ultra Beast.” Smaug’s eyes flared in response, and she climbed on just as her dragon gave a devastating roar. Gladion turned in time to catch her eye and nod his understanding before she took off like a rocket towards Poni Island.

Moon’s stomach was in knots as they flew, and she was sweating bullets of nerves. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Gladion and the recruits to take down Nihilego, but why was it there in the first place? Why did it choose the exact time Necrozma awakened to show up? Where were the Elite Four, and the Kahunas of the Islands? The entire ceremony was televised, surely someone had seen the explosion before the cameras were destroyed.

As they flew closer to Poni Island, she caught glimpses of the other islands and prayed that her friends and allies would arrive at Aether Paradise soon to help Gladion. In front of her, a dark storm whipped wildly around her destination, and she silently cursed as she realized how powerful Necrozma must be to influence the weather simply from its proximity.

As soon as the beast came into view, the temperature dropped fifty degrees, the wind lashed out with shards of ice, and flashes of thunder and lightning erupted around her. It had to be at least fifteen feet tall. Out of Necrozma’s black crystalline body protruded dozens of razor-sharp points, and its crookedly large arms hosted three barbed claws. A colossal edged helmet hung over its eyes, which glowed in a kaleidoscope of colors. The silver storm encircled the beast, and Moon to pull her hat over her face for cover.

She gritted her teeth and called out, “Smaug, Fire Blast!” Columns of fire exploded towards Necrozma and singed away the major layer of ice that had begun to build up. Moon immediately felt the heat from the beast’s hostile stare now that it was aware of her presence. Its roar shook the world around her, and Smaug darted away just as a burst of prism-like energy nearly hit them.

“Draco Meter!” Moon cried out, clinging to Smaug for dear life as they ducked and dodged two more attacks. Necrozma seemed to grow angrier each time it missed its target, and when the flaming meteors were in range, it let out another roar which dissolved the attack completely.

A pit formed in Moon’s stomach as she realized there was only one Pokemon that could counter Necrozma, but she was so scared to let her friend be anywhere near the beast that could steal the light from another.

_It’s too dangerous_ , she argued with herself, right before Smaug took a nose dive towards the ground to avoid a nasty Psychic attack. All of the rain and snow had made Smaug’s armor slippery, and when it righted itself before taking off towards the sky again, Moon lost her grip and fell right onto a boulder covered in a heap of snow. She inhaled sharply as she tried to rise, clutching her now broken ankle. _As if this situation could get any worse!_

It got worse.

Necrozma had noticed she wasn’t riding her Pokemon anymore. Smaug, her faithful dragon, was desperately trying to keep the beast’s attention with every attack it could muster. But it was just too strong. Every Fire Blast, Draco Meter, and Dragon Rage was merely an annoyance to this monster. Moon knew she couldn’t send out any of her other Pokemon, they would be no match for Necrozma. But she also refused to put Lunala in danger of being absorbed.

Moon crawled away as quickly as she could but knew it would be no use. She took all of her pokeballs off her belt and placed them together in the snow. Moon cried out in pain as she stood up on both legs and hobbled away from her friends as fast as she could.

_As long as they were safe, everything would be okay_.

“Smaug, fly away! Get help! Find someone who can beat Necrozma!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping her friend would save itself. Instead of doing what it was told, Smaug continued its assault on Necrozma, smashing a Fire Blast right underneath the beast’s helmet. It definitely did not appreciate the attack and slammed one of its claws across Smaug’s body. Her dragon landed ten feet to her left, knocked unconscious.

“No!” Moon made it about five feet before she looked up to see Necrozma charging up for another attack-directed straight at her. She resigned to keep fighting her way towards Smaug when a beam of scarlet energy flashed behind her, distracting both her and the beast. Lunala screeched in absolute fury and fired off an exceptional Moongeist Beam towards Necrozma.

For the first time since the battle began, Necrozma was surprised, which left it vulnerable. The beam of violet energy shot directly toward its heart, and the beast faltered backwards. Not letting it take a breather, Lunala disappeared within the storm, and appeared directly behind Necrozma for a vigorous Phantom Force attack. The beast collapsed onto its side, and Lunala cried out in victory and flew over to Moon for protection from the still ongoing storm.

“Lunala, you saved us! Thank you!” Moon wrapped her arms around Lunala’s body and snuggled close. She was so elated that she forgot about the pain in her ankle for a few brief moments. “I was so scared of losing you. I didn’t want to risk you losing your light to Necrozma.” Lunala chittered its understanding and motioned her towards Smaug. Moon took a Full Revive out of her bag and sprayed all of Smaug’s wounds. She was relieved when the medicine began to take its effect but gritted her teeth as the pain from her broken ankle came flooding back.

Under the protection of Lunala’s massive wings, Moon didn’t even notice the winter storm picking up around them. She didn’t notice the fog becoming denser every few seconds, hiding the Prism Pokemon from view. And she didn’t notice, until it was too late, a giant claw reaching out from the darkness.

Lunala cried out in surprise, then in pain as the three prongs from Necrozma’s claws wrapped around its body and clamped down. Moon’s screams were deafening as the beast’s entire body began glowing, bringing its target closer and closer to its kaleidoscope eyes. Necrozma pulsed with power, and she could see her friend’s wings beat ferociously, trying to escape. Light erupted around them both, and Moon and Smaug were thrown back fifteen feet towards her remaining pokeballs from the force.

The light faded, and Moon struggled to open her eyes. She didn’t want to see what had become of her friend. She refused to. But when a strangled roar overtook her, Moon couldn’t help but look.

Lunala had fused with Necrozma. She wasn’t sure how it was possible, but the ghostly white and powder blue wings beating wildly proved that theory. Instead of the beautiful royal purple Moon loved so much, this new Pokemon’s body was covered in the same crystallized structure of Necrozma. Engraved on its chest were dazzling pink gemstones, that glittered underneath the same kaleidoscope eyes.

Moon didn’t even attempt to run. She didn’t scream. She simply lay there in shock at the new beast in front of her. Lunala was gone- _absorbed_ by this angry, hostile monster that would take all the light from Alola. She was sure that it would kill her any moment, but the beast seemed to be struggling with itself. It thrashed about, not able to form any sort of attack or advance. For every move it made, there was a counter move.

Her heart started beating again. Lunala was still in there, trying to protect her from whatever it had become. The beast seemed to overwhelm itself with frustration and took off from the Alter of the Moone with that strangled cry. The ice storm whipped around Moon one last time before following the new Pokemon in earnest.

Moon pushed around the snow and found her pokeballs. She placed them back on her belt one by one and returned Smaug as it was still recovering from the injuries from Necrozma. She crawled over to the side of the boulder she fell onto and placed her back against it. Moon knew she would need to go after it, but for now, she closed her eyes and let the tears fall down her face.

She laid against the boulder for the next half hour until she heard a familiar roar. Moon struggled to open her eyes, and when she did, her vision was blurry. The pain from her ankle was almost unbearable, but she couldn’t find the strength, emotionally or physically, to do anything about it. Something big and orange came into view, and she vaguely tried to recognize the Pokemon in front of her.

“Moon! Moon! Oh Arceus….” Was all she heard before everything went black.

XX

“How much longer is she supposed to be out?”

“She should be waking up here soon.”

“How do you think she will take the news?”

“Not well. Not well at all. I would suggest those Battle Tree recruits be far away when we tell her.”

“Agreed.”

Moon’s eyes flickered. Voices were talking, talking about her, and she wanted to know why. The first thing she noticed was that the pain in her ankle was gone, they must have her on some strong medication. The second thing she noticed was that there were a lot of people hanging around in her hospital room.

Red was the first to notice that she was awake. His raven-black hair was a complete mess underneath his red and white hat, and he had dark circles underneath his eyes. Her mother was looking haggard as well, her glasses were pushed up on the top of her head, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Blue, Professor Kukui, May, Brendan, and Hau were all gathered around her bed as well.

“Moon, how are you feeling?” Moon’s mother asked, her voice filled with obvious relief.

“I-I’m okay.” She struggled to hold back tears, the memory of Necrozma fusing with Lunala was coming back to her.

“Are you thirsty? Hungry?” her mother was insistent, and Moon relented that she was. “I’ll be right back. None of you upset her while I am gone.” She added, shooting a glare at Red and Blue.

Moon looked at the boys quizzically, and they stepped on either side of her hospital bed. “Moon, can you tell us exactly what happened? Starting with the Aether Paradise?” Blue asked in a tone that was all business.

“Uh…yeah. Gladion was presented as the President of the Aether Foundation, and then Professor Kukui told me that Necrozma had awoken in Ultra Megalopolis, and that we needed to hurry to the Alter of the Moone before it arrived in Alola.  At the same time, a wormhole exploded, and an Ultra Beast attacked. I-I had to leave everyone behind so that I could stop Necrozma…” She trailed off, fighting the urge to cry again.

Red and Blue exchanged nervous glances. “Wait, is everyone okay at Aether Paradise? Were they able to stop Nihilego?” Her voice rose to a plea, and the boys took her hands to calm her down. May and Brendan shuffled next to each other towards the back of the room, Kukui’s face was grim, and Hau wouldn’t look her in the eye.

“No!” Moon snatched her hands away. “Tell me what is going on! Everyone is acting so strange!”

Red made eye contact with Blue and hesitated. “Okay, but you need to stay calm. You are still recovering from your broken ankle and a case of hypothermia.” She was alarmed at her diagnosis, but not surprised. She must have been in that storm for hours. Moon nodded for him to continue.

“From the information that we’ve gathered, Aether Paradise was not the only place where an Ultra Beast attacked. On every island, a wormhole appeared, and out of it came multiple Ultra Beasts.”

Moon groaned. “That’s why nobody came to help stop Nihilego. They all had their own battles to fight.”

Professor Kukui stepped forward and nodded. “Each member of the Elite Four paired up with a Kahuna to fight the Ultra Beasts together. They were successful. Once they got me to a hospital bed at a Pokemon Center, I was able to read all the reports coming in. It seemed like the wormholes on each island appeared at the same time…”

“At the same time that Necrozma found its way to Alola.” Moon finished for him. A pit formed in her stomach, but she tried to stay calm like she promised.

“So, the members of the Elite Four were battling with the Kahunas on each of the islands trying to stop the Ultra Beasts, while the Battle Tree recruits and Gladion were fighting Nihilego, while I was battling Necrozma…do I have that correct?”

Professor Kukui nodded. “So, is everyone okay? How did the other battles go?” Nobody would meet her eye again. The pit in her stomach doubled in size.

“Tell me.” Her voice was gravely serious.

“They will do no such thing! You are still recovering, and you need to rest!” Moon’s mother shouted, making everyone jump a foot in the air. Everyone except Red and Blue backed away from her bed, and her mother stood with her arms crossed at the foot.

Moon struggled to sit up in the bed, much to the distress of her friends. “I am Moon Skyrah, Champion of Alola. You _will_ tell me what you know!” She gritted her teeth and looked her mother straight in the eye and waited for her to let out a sigh of defeat.

“Fine..just..be gentle.” She whispered and moved to take her daughter’s hand.

“Well, Red and I arrived in Hau’oli City just as the ceremony at Aether Paradise was taking place. We dropped our stuff at your house and watched it on TV with your mom. We watched it go dark.”

“We were about to teleport over to help, when we heard the screams. We battled one of the Ultra Beasts before we were able to make our way over to you to help. But…when we got there...” Blue couldn’t finish.

Red took over for him. “When we got there, the crowd of people had made it safely down to the Aether Foundation’s docks. We grabbed one of the Battle Tree recruits, and he told us about the battle going on in the gardens, so we rushed up there.”

He looked her dead in the eyes and asked, “Do you remember why we had to leave Alola?”

Moon blinked. She was caught off guard by the question. “Yeah, you were called to investigate reports of Team Rocket rising again. What does that have to do with Alola?”

“Apparently, everything.” Red resumed. “When we reached the gardens, all the Battle Tree recruits were unconscious, and we watched ten men in Team Rocket uniforms race into the mansion. While we checked to make sure everyone was breathing, the air…the air around us shimmered. We watched the mansion transform into this giant, dark castle. It was like the castle pulsed with evil or something. That’s why we think Team Rocket has something to do with the wormholes and Ultra Beasts, if they figured out a way to control travel to other dimensions, then they could set up a distraction of this size.”

“Wait.” Moon held up her hand. “You said all of the Battle Tree recruits were knocked unconscious. Gladion was in that fight. Where was he? Where is he?” She had noticed Gladion’s absence, but she had figured he was picking up the pieces from the ceremony.

Blue took her free hand. “Moon…we think they took him. We believe that Team Rocket has Gladion somewhere in that castle.”

Her heart stopped.

“W-what? A-and you didn’t try to save him? WHY DIDN’T YOU SAVE HIM?” She was no longer calm. _Team Rocket_ has sent Ultra Beasts to attack her friends and family. _Team Rocket_ had used the presence of Necrozma to unleash whatever master plan they had. And _Team Rocket_ had kidnapped her boyfriend, and she was laying in a hospital bed. Adrenaline racing, Moon threw off her blankets and attempted to get out of bed but was stopped by Blue and her mother.

“Moon, you need to calm down.” Moon’s mother pleaded. Calm down? Calm DOWN?

“Are you crazy! Team Rocket has my boyfriend locked away in a giant evil castle! I have to save him!” Moon was frantic, her mind churning over every horrible possibility of what Team Rocket could be doing to Gladion right now. Was he still alive? Have they hurt him?

Hau finally stepped forward. “Moon, I know you are scared, and I know you want to get Gladion back. But we have to come up with a plan. You always taught me to be prepared, and if we are going to stop Team Rocket, we have to be ready.”

After catching the pleading look in Hau’s eyes, Moon forced herself to take three deep breaths, something her father had taught her. She couldn’t find the words to reply, so she just gave a defeated nod and settled back into her bed.

“Thank you, Moon.” Red told her gently. “The only missing part of the story is what happened with your battle with Necrozma. Can you tell us about it?”

Tears burned in her eyes as she recalled the battle. Her voice was small, and she had to choke back a sob when she got to the part of Necrozma fusing with Lunala. “I-I-I know Lunala is still in there. The beast seemed like it was having an internal battle. It couldn’t attack me, so it flew off. I have no idea how much longer Lunala can hold it off from taking the light from Alola..”

The faces of her friends around the room were grim and sunken. Red and Blue had a silent exchange and nodded in agreement.

Red moved next to Moon again. “Moon, it is not your fault. I’m so sorry you had to fight that monster alone. First things first, we have to stop Necrozma. I know you want to help Gladion, but before we can do that we have to save Lunala.”

“But..but how? Necrozma was so powerful, even before it fused with Lunala. How can we have any hope of defeating it, much less separate the two Pokemon?”

Professor Kukui interjected. “Do you remember asking for the trainer who had encountered a fusion Pokemon before in Unova? They arrived this morning with the DNA Splicers.”

“Yeah, we can work with them to develop a plan of action, then we will help you get Lunala back and defeat Necrozma. We will do it together.” Blue finished with a blinding confidence only he could manage.

Moon felt her brain ticking away at the possibilities, and put a lot of effort into keeping her eyes open. Moon’s mom noticed this and turned towards everyone. “Okay, that is enough excitement for one day. Let Moon rest, and then you can all meet up in the morning when she is back on her feet.”

The room murmured their acceptance and “get-wells” and shuffled out of the room. Moon drifted off with strategies and revenge on her mind.

XX

“Moon, are you sure you are well enough to do this?” Her mother fretted over her as they approached Professor Kukui’s lab on Melemele Island. Moon had woken up that morning with the pain in her ankle completely gone, and a new spring in her step. Modern medicine was a beautiful thing.

Moon rolled her eyes. “Yes, mother, I am fine. I am the Champion of Alola, my Pokemon has been taken from me, and my boyfriend has been kidnapped. I am going to fight.” Her mother nodded in understanding and opened the door for her. Sitting around Professor Kukui’s living room was a crowd of people, the Alola Elite Four and its Kahunas, Professor Kukui and his wife, Red and Blue, May and Brendan, and two new faces.

Sitting on a white leather loveseat was a tall teen, probably two years older than Moon, and a shorter girl probably a year or so younger than him. The boy had striking green hair that flowed wildly underneath his black and white cap into a long ponytail. He had a white long sleeve button-up over a black turtleneck, and dark khaki pants. His left arm was draped around the shoulders of the girl with luscious auburn hair, who wore a white tank top and black sleeveless vest with short jean shorts with holes in them.

Moon’s heart contracted as she thought of Gladion, and how they should be sitting together where this couple was. She shook off her sadness and introduced herself. The couple stood up and shook her hand.

  
“Its very nice to meet you Champion Moon, my name is White, and this is my boyfriend, N.” The boy nodded his hello, but stayed quiet.

Red stepped forward from his spot leaning against the fireplace mantel and addressed the group. “Thank you all for coming. We are here to discuss strategy for two different rescue operations. Gladion, the President of the Aether Foundation, has been kidnapped by Team Rocket, who now resides in the Aether Mansion. We believe they have acquired some kind of technology or Pokemon that gives them control over wormholes. This is possibly how they were able to be in so many different regions at once and keep a low profile. Also, they must have a very powerful psychic on their side to manipulate the outside of the Aether Mansion to make it look like a medieval castle.

Our other mission is to defeat and separate the Pokemon that formed from Necrozma and Lunala. For our purposes, we will call this new beast, ‘Dawn Wings Necrozma’. It has the ability to steal the light energy from its surroundings, including the light from Alola. Reports have told us that the beast is still struggling with itself, which leads us to believe that Lunala is still fighting its attacker. But, we don’t know how much time it has left before it loses control.”

Blue interjected, “I suggest that take this in phases, and split up. We can send a team to do recon at the castle, see what kind of presence we need to prepare for. The others can lure Dawn Wings Necrozma back to the Alter of the Moone and use our strengths and experiences to defeat it to get Lunala back. Then, once we rescue Lunala, we can regroup and discuss our next phase of action.”

Moon couldn’t help but smile to herself. The two boys in front of her used to play “Ring Around the Ponyta” with her and pretend to be powerful Pokemon trainers with their stuffed Pokemon toys, and now they were leaders who were strong enough to take on an evil criminal organization without fear.

She walked over from her place next to the couch and stood next to Red and Blue. “I will lead the team against Dawn Wings Necrozma, since I have a little bit of experience around the beast. Its…more terrifying than you can imagine. But if we work together, I have faith that we can defeat it.”

Moon turned towards the Elite Four. “Hala, I want you to take Olivia, Hau, Hapu, May and Brendan along with you to do recon on the castle. Find out how many members of Team Rocket we are dealing with, any recognizable admins, if they have any powerful Pokemon, and see if you can find out where they are keeping Gladion.”

Acerola and Kahili will remain at the Pokemon League and serve as protection against any attacks close to home, while Mallow gathers the Trial Captains and keep up the defenses on the islands in case anymore Ultra Beasts find their way back to Alola.”

Blue nodded, “That leaves Moon, Red, N, White, Professor Kukui, and I to defeat Necrozma.”

The two groups discussed their missions separately for about an hour or so, and came to an agreement on the plan. Moon’s stomach twisted with nerves as she wished the Recon group good luck, and she watched them leave with a sense of dread. She trusted her friends to get the job done, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle it if something happened to them.

Moon jumped when she felt a hand on the small of her back. Red raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. “You ready?” She took shaky breath and nodded back.

“Let’s go get Lunala back.”

xx

The six trainers made their way over the to Alter of the Moone on Poni Island, either through teleportation, a Ride Pokemon, or their own flyers. They fanned out into a line with their backs against the alter, and held their pokeballs in their hands.

“Is everybody ready?” Red called out over the strong breeze that whirled around them. They all nodded and tossed their pokeballs into the air, sending out scarlet streams of energy. Eighteen Pokemon materialized in front of them: Red’s Pikachu, Charizard, and Blastoise, Blue’s Arcanine, Alakazam, and Aerodactyl, Moon’s Salamance (Smaug), Primarina, and Marowak, Professor Kukui’s Lycanroc, Decidueye, and Ninetales, N’s Carracosta, Zoroak, and Archeops, and White’s Serperior, Krokorok, and Swanna.

Moon drew in a deep breath. She was surrounded by powerful trainers and their equally powerful Pokemon. They all knew the risks and would be essential in defeating Dark Wings Necrozma. During their discussion, the team had chosen their strongest allies and came to an agreement on how to use the DNA Splicers to their advantage. They needed to weaken the beast enough for it to lose its hold over Lunala, then they needed to pierce the hide and inject the splicers through a special needle Professor Kukui had his lab create.

Nobody seemed to want to move a muscle, and Moon could taste the tension in the air. She brought out the case holding all her Z-Crystals out of her messenger bag. The thin, rectangular box with a dark blue velvet coating and images of the Island Guardians etched into the side of the wooden frame was worn from time and use. She stepped forward, still behind the wall of Pokemon. Moon unlocked the latch of the box and opened it towards the middle of the circle. The crystals inside pulsed with light and the radiating power made the air shimmer around them.

They didn’t have to wait long, after about two minutes of silence, a strangled cry rang out from the east. The group repositioned themselves behind their Pokemon and prepared for battle. Moon’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the beast. While Dawn Wings Necrozma had many of Necrozma’s features, those beautifully terrifying powder blue wings were Lunala’s. Her friend and partner _was_ inside this creature, and she was going to save it.

She stole a glance at her companions and was surprised to see their faces masked with gritted determination rather than fear. She guessed that this was not the first ultra-powerful Pokemon these people had come across in their lives.

As the Pokemon drew closer, it brought with it the silver storm Moon remembered from her first battle. The temperature dropped significantly, and the wind picked up around them. She called out to her friends to stay strong against the storm, and lifted her arm to cover her face as the ice began to rain down on them.

Dawn Wings Necrozma gave an overpowering roar, and everyone had to protect their ears from the harmful volume. The monster landed in the center of the Alter, and Moon shouted, “Now!” Movement erupted around her, her friends quickly fanned out with their Pokemon so that they surrounded the beast. Of course-that wouldn’t stop Dawn Wings Necrozma from flying away, but Moon kept the case of Z-Crystals open and in view to keep that from happening.

The beast was looking at her with those kaleidoscope eyes, seemingly daring her to attack. She gritted her teeth before shouting at the top of her lungs, “Attack!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
